There are two passages I want to read to you as we begin this morning. The first is from Genesis 2, and then we'll turn over to Ephesians 5, where we'll spend the remainder of our time. Genesis 2, beginning in verse 18. Then the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him. Now out of the ground, the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to 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 birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep 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. Then the man said, This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. The man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed." Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5, beginning in verse 22. Wives, submit to your own husbands as 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. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might 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, 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 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." Let's pray together. Well, Father, we bless you for speaking to us through your word. We are the people who need to hear from you all the time. We remember that our Lord Jesus quoted the scriptures saying that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And so, Lord, we come with a hunger and a thirst to know what you have spoken to us. Give us understanding. I pray, Father, that you would settle our hearts, remove from us those distractions that would easily snatch away from us your word. Please, God, focus our hearts' attention on your truth, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. At the end of Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul sets his sights on the institution of marriage. Explain to us what the roles are for men and women and really to isolate for us what marriage itself is. The key verse in this section is verse 31 and 32, when Paul quotes from Genesis 2 and then draws a conclusion from that in verse 32 and says, this mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. With that statement, Paul is giving us a fundamental understanding of what marriage is in God's program in his world. And of course, when we come to something like marriage, we will be washed to and fro unless we have our feet anchored in the truth of what God has decreed about what marriage is. Our society and our world has made an extravagant effort to try to define things for itself. It sets man on the throne, And as putting man on the throne as king, it says that man can define any institution however it wants. And when you have man defining human relationships rather than God, we find that we end up distorting, twisting, disturbing God's good design. This is what has happened in our society. I don't even have to give you examples for you to know that it is true. Look around and see what our world has done to marriage. And yet, despite all of the efforts of man to try to undermine God's definition for marriage, ultimately it cannot do it away with. Ultimately, God's definition of marriage will stand. Ultimately, God's definition will prevail. Just as some may like to fight against gravity, For a time, they may seem like they're winning, but sooner or later, they will hit the ground. So too, when you try to fight against that which is ultimately unassailable, you will find yourself losing. You can try to redefine it. You can seek to legislate it how you want. You can undermine it through divorce at will, ignore it through casual sexual encounters, trivialize it by making it a mere human contract, or regarding it as only a piece of paper. You can do that, but in the end, God's Word on marriage will stand. It cannot fail. It will not fail. Heaven and earth will pass away before God's Word on marriage will pass away. So there's a reason why God has spoken about marriage. Everything that He does is purposeful. Everything that He says is with reason. And so when He speaks about marriage, He does so with a purpose. And it's fascinating, isn't it? That at the very opening of the world, when the world was new, God speaks an authoritative word about marriage. Less than a day old was mankind when God instituted marriage. And so when you enter into marriage, if you're married, or when you consider marriage, You have to understand that you are considering something that has existed from the very dawn of the world. We're speaking about something that was there when the first days of the world were existing, when the world was brand new. When the first smells were filling the air, the first colors of the world were being seen, and the first songs of the birds were being heard, and the first sunrises and moonrises were occurring, the first leaves of the trees were being unfurled, and the first blades of grass were coming up. This is when marriage came to be. Marriage is something that is unique among all the uniqueness of what was happening in that new world. And what was unique was that God saw His creation, Adam. After He had made all of the other animals, He sees man and declares, it is not good that man should be alone. And so as we read, God brings all the animals before Adam. He names them all. But in surveying all of the array of what God had made, it was discovered none of these are going to be a helper that's suitable for Adam. So, Adam is put under by God, put to sleep, and God does surgery on Adam. By the way, I believe this is literally true. Jesus believed Genesis was literally true. This is what God did. He put the first man to sleep, and He opens up his side and removes from his side a rib. And this time, not from dirt, but from the very flesh of Adam, God forms another human being. The first woman, and Adam awakes, and his eyes, although having seen everything new for the first time, sees something brand new that he hasn't seen yet. He sees a woman. He sees not just a woman, but he sees his woman. The woman that God made for him. And he looks at this woman, and I wish we had a tape recording of how he said this. because I imagine that he said it with great enthusiasm. At last, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh, he saw the one God made for him to be his companion, to be his helper, to be at his side. And he knew this was for him. He knew that God arranged this first meeting. He knew God created this woman. And he knew that God was joining them together. That was the first marriage. And this marriage was unique amongst all that was happening in the world at that time. The animal kingdom was told to be fruitful and multiply, but they were not brought together in marriage. God brought man and woman together in marriage. This is the way God's design was meant to work. It was meant to bring a man and a woman together to have this committed relationship. Marriage, obviously then, is an important component of God's program in the world. It has been generally recognized throughout various societies that marriage is a building block of society. It is the institution that kind of undergirds every other institution in society. If you get rid of marriage, then you get rid of the building block of the whole social structure. No wonder when marriage is attacked, you see the ramifications downstream. Marriage is this building block. But we have to understand what marriage actually is. Understanding marriage rightly helps you understand what God is doing in this world, what God's up to. And so we want to look at His Word so that we can understand what this thing called marriage is. And we all need to understand this. Whether you're married or not, you have to understand what marriage is because it is such a huge component of what God is doing in this world. So for us to help us understand what marriage is and what God's intention is for it, I want to ask four questions of this passage in Ephesians 5 that will help us understand God's intention for marriage. We'll progress through these questions and I think as we go through them it will unfold to us what God's intention is for marriage. The first question is this. How should a husband love his wife? How should a husband love his wife? And we want to start with this question because this is where we're at in our passage in verse 28, but also because this really will set a key foundational stone for us understanding what marriage actually is. As we ask the question, how should a husband love his wife, we will discover something essential about what God is doing in this world. The answer to how a husband should love his wife is this. A husband should love his wife as his own body. You see this in verse 28. 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. Now husbands have already been addressed. Back in verse 25, husbands are told to love their wives as Christ has loved the church. And we learned from that that Christ laid down his life sacrificially and committedly gave his life for the church. But now Paul gives a slightly different spin on the kind of love that we're to have for wives, which is to love wives as their own bodies. Husbands are to do that. And it takes almost a surprising turn. that Paul would command it this way. Some people think that Paul is coming down from kind of spiritual loftiness of loving as Christ loved the church, now down to a more earthly, a more base command. And some people suggest this because husbands just can't stay at that spiritual level. And so let's bring it down, some say. Paul is bringing it down to kind of the earthly level. So husbands, love your wives as your own bodies. I don't think that's what Paul is doing. This is not a self-serving statement. This is not a selfish statement. This is, in the essence, a self-sacrificing statement. Although Paul says, he who loves his wife loves himself, I think as you understand what this really means, you will see this is not a selfish command. So, what does Paul mean about how a husband is to love his wife? Let's think first about what it doesn't mean when Paul says husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. Oftentimes when you come up against one of the commands in scripture, like, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, we get kind of clever. And I used to think this, and many people have said this to me, that when you hear the command that you should love your neighbor as yourself, you think, well, that means I need to first love myself before I can love others. And so in order to really love somebody else, I need to kind of put them to the side for a moment and focus on me. I need more me time before I can do you time. That's some of the thinking that comes with this command, love your neighbor as yourself. And we get clever and we kind of psychologize it and think that there is a command in the scripture for us to love ourselves. But know that when the scripture says, love your neighbor as yourself, the command is not to love yourself, the command is to love your neighbor. There's no command in scripture to love yourself. And so this is not saying that we need to take time away and go on some sort of isolated self-improvement program where you go to spas or whatever you do to kind of invest in yourself. This is not what it's saying. Paul explains it this way, no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it. That's a general statement. We ought not to go to the immediate exceptions that you might think of, those who do self-harm or self-mutilation. Those are exceptions and for a reason. But the main principle is that humans generally seek their own welfare. No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, Paul says. So consider your own life and how you do that for yourself. It's kind of obvious. When you're hungry, You feed yourself. When you're thirsty, you get yourself a drink. When you're hurting, you try to make yourself hurt less. When you're sick, you get yourself medicine or you bring yourself to a doctor. When you're in trouble, you try to get out of it. When you're slandered, you try to clear your name. When you're accused, you try to defend yourself. When you get cold, you try to get yourself warm. When you get too hot, you try to cool yourself down. This is why temperature settings are so challenging. Usually, the only person that's being considered in regard to temperature is yourself. Because you think the world is defined by how you feel in regard to cold and hot. And so, if you get to set the temperature, great! You make it comfortable for you. But as soon as someone else enters the room, they say it's too hot, and they turn it down. And thus begins this passive-aggressive fight that happens where everybody's changing the thermostat all the time. That's why you put locks on the thermostats. Because we love ourselves, and we want to be comfortable. This is what we do. I discovered something about myself when I left My home, when I left my parents' home, was really a profound realization for me. When I was growing up, there were many meals that I did not like eating. I'd list them out for you. I didn't like the dried-out chicken that we had to eat. I didn't like the pork chops. I didn't like the bland mashed potatoes. I didn't like the onions in the spaghetti sauce. I could go on and on and tell you all the things I didn't like. But when I moved out, I thought that my palate just improved tremendously. But what I discovered was I fed myself foods that I liked. So I always eat what I like. Because why? I already love myself. I try to take care of myself. I show it by making the food that I like or setting the temperature to what's comfortable for me. You can get a little bit more nuanced. Maybe you say, well, I don't eat the food that I like. Well, that may be true because you're on a diet and you care about yourself to be healthy in a certain way. And so you're still loving yourself even if you're eating food you don't like. This is the way we work. You wear clothes you like, you listen to the music you like, you watch the movies and TV and books that you like. We love ourselves. shouldn't surprise us that we do this. And so, when we hear that command, love your neighbor as yourself or husbands, love your wives as your own bodies, you don't need to go and try to figure out how to love yourself more. That's exactly the wrong point. You already show love to yourself every day, almost all the time, and you do it with great intentionality and precision and care. You nourish and cherish yourself, Paul says. This is what we do. To nourish is the same word that's used in chapter 6 verse 4 when it says, Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Bring them up. It's the same word. You're raising them. You're nurturing them. You're providing for them. It can literally mean feeding. But it's more expansive than that. It means nurture in the sense of providing an environment in which others can thrive. In this case, Paul's using it and saying, you are working to provide an environment in which you yourself can thrive. That's generally the way we live our lives. And then cherish. Cherish is the same word that's used in 1 Thessalonians. Chapter 2, verse 6, when Paul describes his ministry among them, he says, we were gentle among you like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. Tend with kindly care is one definition of it. You think about how a new mom takes care of her nursing child, dotes on that child, loves that child, stays up late for that child, gets up early for that child, is caring for that child every hour of the day, every cry is cataloged. Everything revolves around caring for that nursing child. This is what we do for ourselves already. So when you hear this command, don't think, oh, I need to improve loving myself. In fact, this application is made to husbands. It says again in verse 28, In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. The point here is that Paul is saying, this is the way we treat ourselves. We nurture ourselves. We treat ourselves like a nursing mother. As soon as your tummy rumbles, you get yourself something to eat. As soon as you have an owie, you get yourself a band-aid. And Paul is telling husbands, and husbands, you need to hear this. Husbands, love your wives like the care you give to yourself. With the same intentionality, with the same precision, with the same attention to detail, love your wives, husbands. You already know how to do it. Just look in a mirror at how you take care of yourself and go do that for your wife. Husbands, do you nurture your wives? Husbands, do you cherish your wives? Maybe a better question would be, Husbands, do your wives understand your love as nurturing and cherishing love? Now, Husbands, as you consider your responsibility to love in this way, to give yourself over to loving your wife with this kind of intentionality and care, you might think, well, life's going to be miserable now. If I'm only eating the foods that she wants to eat or making the foods that she wants to eat or only watching HGTV all the time, life's going to be wretched. Well, You may need to lay down your life in order to do that. You may need to lay down your own preferences in order to love your wife this way. And this is why I don't think this is a selfish command. At the heart of this command is really the same statement that began this section, husbands love your wives as Christ has loved the church and gave himself up for her. You just need to realize you can do that with as much intentionality as you love yourself already. But Paul writes something amazing in verse 28 to indicate that this will not be miserable for the husband who does it. In verse 28, Paul says, he who loves his wife loves himself. And so that brings us to the next question. And the first question was, how are husbands to love their wives? And the answer is, as your own bodies. And the next question now is, why is it that when a husband loves his wife, he is loving himself? Why is it that when a husband loves his wife, he is loving himself? And the answer is, because man and woman become one flesh in marriage. because man and woman become one flesh in marriage. Paul quotes in verse 31 from Genesis 2.24, Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Paul reaches back and draws on the statement of Scripture that establishes the relationship of marriage in the first place. The pattern of Adam and Eve being joined together in marriage by God established a pattern that was to be followed in all marriages. And what the pattern was, is that sons are to leave their parents and cling to their wives. This means that children are to have a relationship with their parents that comes with this natural perforation to it. At some point, the relationship between parent and child changes. It's torn off in a sense, like you get those mailers that have a little part at the bottom that you tear off and send back in with your donation or your bill. So too, the relationship between parent and child comes with a perforation on it. This happens when sons leave their parents find a wife, and cling to her." Jesus comments on marriage in Mark chapter 10, verse 9. He quotes the same passage that Paul uses here. But in Mark 10, 9, he adds this. He says, what therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. When two come together, They become one flesh, and in becoming one flesh, there is something divine that happens. God is joining man and woman together in a new relationship, a new life, so new, so unique, that it's almost as if the two that had existed before no longer are, and there now exists this one new thing in marriage. God joins the two together, and He does this miracle of making this one new relationship. It says that the husband is to hold fast to his wife. On the divine side, God joins together. On the human side, the man holds fast to his wife, cleaves. You may have heard this before. It's like the language of glue or cement. where a husband now is so glued to his wife that they are held fast together. That's why Jesus says, let not man separate. We know that when man tries to separate, it's messy, because those two have been intertwined, those lives have been welded together, and when you try to rip them apart, parts of one get attached to the other, and parts of the other to the one, it's a messy thing. There's something else that's somewhat mysterious here, because usually when you put one and one together, you get two. But in God's divine math, when you put one man and one woman together in marriage, you get one flesh. They come together as one. This idea of one flesh is a fascinating and profound subject, because it's one new thing that hadn't existed before. Remember when Adam saw Eve, in the exclamation he made in Genesis 2.23, he says, this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. And Adam recognizes that in being given Eve by God, he's receiving what no animal could provide, he's receiving what only God could give, he's receiving a helper fit for him, one who literally came out of his side, was made into something new, and then brought back to him so that the two are made something new together. And their life is joined so much together now, it's almost like his rib is back with him, but just on the outside of him. And you find that the one who is at your side is as much a part of you as your ribs are as part of you. And right after the statement that Paul quotes about the two becoming one flesh, in Genesis 2.25, it says, the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. And this indicates that in that first marriage, In that first relationship, there was such innocence, and of course, as of yet, there is no sin. And they were completely themselves, unclothed and unashamed. And the closest you can get to that in a human relationship now is with marriage. Even though there is sin, it is A relationship where there is such trust and such forgiveness and such love and such respect that the husband and wife can come together with that kind of grace that there is now a vulnerability and openness that exists in such a degree that they have a confident, unashamed, loving intimacy unlike any other relationship on earth. Mike Mason, in his book, The Mystery of Marriage, romantically envisions a reenactment of that first marriage every time there is another marriage. Just as Adam opened his eyes after he was put to sleep and sees Eve brought to him, and sees something he had never seen before, another human being, a female, brought to him to be his wife, and he's filled with wonder. and takes her to his side, and now they're joined together for life. So too, husbands and wives, when they're joined together in marriage, open their eyes almost as if for the first time and see something new, a partner, a companion that's brought together for life, to live together with, to share life together with, Sometimes, just to the nature of the world and our own routines and regularities, we lose some of that wonder. But for those of you who are married, may God return that to you. May you be astounded that in God's divine providence, He has selected for you a spouse that He has put at your side to join you together with, so that you too should be inseparable in life, And in fact, you are in God's eyes, one flesh. Priscilla and I were discussing this passage last night, just for a few moments. We were talking about some marriages that we know, and how it seems as if some marriages, God just joins just the right man and just the right woman together. And so much so that you can't think of the one without the other. You can't think of Chuck without Bobby. You can't think of Derek without Carol. They just go together now. They belong together. This is so profound because they've been united by God. I feel this way whenever I'm apart from my wife for more than about a day. I feel like half of me is missing and I'm a complete incompetent. It's one of the gifts of marriage. So profound and close is this union that you are one flesh. And Paul says, when you are one flesh like this, he who loves his wife loves himself. That's how close you are. The first question to help us understand marriage was, How are husbands to love their wives? And the answer was, as his own body. The second question was, why is it that when a husband loves his wife, he is loving himself? And the answer is, because man and woman become one flesh in marriage. And this means that the two who had lived independent of each other before that time, now live together in a committed, loving, lifelong companionship. Now, With those questions and answers laid down, it's appropriate to ask the next question. This is where I believe the passage is primarily leading us. And when you understand this, then you understand the rest of marriage. The third question is, why did God make marriage to be this way? Why did God make marriage to be this way? Expand the question a little bit. Why did God make marriage to be a one flesh relationship between a man and a woman? You can think for a moment that God has all creative power and all wisdom and he can do anything. So why did he do it this way? The answer, God made marriage and he made marriage in this way to reveal the love of Christ for His own church. I think that's what Paul is saying. There's something deeper going on with the institution of marriage than just two humans coming together and procreation and companionship that comes from that. There's something bigger going on with marriage. There's some picture that's being painted to the world through marriage. So when Paul quotes from Genesis and says, therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh, he doesn't immediately apply it to human marriage. Rather, he says in verse 32, this mystery is profound. And I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. We've just been talking about male and female coming together as one flesh, and that is demonstrated by quoting from Genesis 2.24. And Paul is saying Genesis 2.24 ultimately refers not to man and woman coming together, but Christ and His church together. So why did God do it this way? To reveal the love of Christ for His own church. Let's unpack this just a little bit more. What is a mystery? Mystery in the Bible is something that was unknowable by man and unknowable by human wisdom in the past, but has now been revealed by God. Mystery in our common usage is something that we try to figure out, but in biblical usage it's something you can't figure out unless God reveals it to you. Mystery, in our common usage, means something that's still hidden. But in biblical usage, it actually means something that was hidden, but is hidden no longer. And what mystery is Paul referring to here? He says it's a profound mystery. And he quotes Genesis 2.24, and it's referring to two becoming one flesh. And right before that, he says, in verse 29, 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. This tells us that as Paul is thinking about this one fleshness of marriage, he goes beyond the physical marriage between man and woman to the mystery of the union of Christ and His church. So the God-ordained institution of human marriage that was created in the very beginning of the world has prepared for us almost a living parable by which we can understand the kind of loving relationship Christ has with His church. You picture a loving marriage that you've seen or experienced. A marriage that is in such close relationship that the husband and wife seem to you in your eyes almost as if one flesh together. As you look at that, you look through that, and you will see then a picture of Christ's love and union with His church. It is the uniting of the church to Christ that reveals this mystery. So what we find is that the very first marriage and every other marriage after that was to be a glimpse of the greatest union that was to happen. The Christ himself bringing to himself his bride, the church, to be his forever and ever. You think again about how Adam saw Eve that first time, how he saw his helper, His bone of bone, flesh of His flesh. He saw not just woman, but His woman. The one that He would be united to with for His whole life. We look through that, and we see Christ's attitude. For He saw His church in His mind, but He saw something different. Because Adam saw something pure, something holy. But when Christ first saw His church, do you know what He saw? Sinful, filthy people, covered with sin and all the filth of our guilt. But as the founder and redeemer of His church, He let His blood be spilled so that we could be cleansed from our sin, and in doing so, He paid our guilt debt, and He set us free, free not to roam around from lover to lover, but as people who belong to Christ who bought us. And when He died for us, He claimed us as His own. He made us His. He covers us with His blood. He wraps us with His garments. He washes us. He cleanses us. He makes us alive with Him. He redeems us. And He brings us so close to Himself that His church is now called His body. And we are members of Him. We are united to Him. For how long? In human marriage, that contract ends at death. In Christ's realm, the one who is risen from the dead, he claims his people as his own forever and ever, because he will never die again, and he will resurrect us to be with him forever and ever. And when we look to Christ, we see one who loves like he's loving his own body. Husbands, when you see your wife in need, you are to help her. When you see your wife is hungry, you're to provide for her. Make sure that she has good food and healthy things to eat. When she's thirsty, you provide for her something to drink. When she's sick, you should seek to make her get better. When she's in trouble, you try to help her find a way out. When she's defenseless, you become her defender. When she is accused, you come to her side. You love her as you love yourself. That's what you should do. Now think about how Christ loves His church. Think about Christ's love for His own. When the church is hungry, it provides for her. When the church is in danger, He protects her. When His church faces robbers and thieves, He lays down His life for her. When the church is lacking righteousness, He satisfies them. When the church is slandered, He will ultimately vindicate them. When we go astray, He comes and gets us. When we are afraid, He comforts us. When we are worried, He speaks peace to us. When we are weak, He is strong for us. When we are lonely, He is with us. When we are wrong, He corrects us. This is Christ's love for His church. And this relationship is greater than any earthly relationship, than any earthly marriage, because earthly marriages will end, but the relationship with Christ will go on forever and ever. This is one of the helps for those who long to be married, and God has not provided that for you. When you realize that Christ loves you with the best love a husband could ever give you, You can be satisfied in the eternal love that He will give. In fact, Jesus speaks quite plainly about the end of marriage. He tells us that in the resurrection, there will be no marriage between husband and wife. Because there is a relationship that will endure longer than that. So why did God make marriage to be a relationship in which the husband is to love his wife as his own body? Well, because the marriage is to be one flesh unit. Why did God make it that way? Because God wanted to paint a picture to the world of the relationship between Christ and his church. One final question. Question number four. In a Christian household, how then should wives and husbands conduct themselves? In a Christian household, how then should wives and husbands conduct themselves? Notice how Paul ends in this paragraph in verse 33. He says, however, After this lofty theology about Christ and the church, he brings it back to us and says, don't think for a second just because you have this great relationship with Christ that doesn't have any bearing on your relationship, husbands and wives. As a matter of fact, because you know this now, your relationship between each other should be influenced by this. And so the answer is to, How should husbands and wives conduct themselves? Well, the answer is, as Christ has treated the church, and as the church regards Christ, so too should husbands and wives treat each other. Paul dispels any notion of over-spiritualizing marriage to the degree that, to think that it doesn't matter how we treat one another. In other words, Paul says, husbands, love your wives, and wives see that you respect your husband. Marriage is to be a picture of Christ and His church. Christian marriages should be the pinnacle of that picture. Of all people in the world, we need to display that to the world. And you can see the language that Paul uses throughout this section. In verse 22, he says, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. In verse 24, 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. And again, verse 28, in the same way husbands should love their wives. Paul now uses the love of Christ and the relationship of the church to Christ as a standard for husbands and wives wives by which they should live. Husbands and wives, your actions in your marriage matter in many ways all the more now. Your attitude of submission and your attitude of love must rise to the standard of the beautiful union of Christ and the Church. And think, what does this world need? Well, this world needs Christ, doesn't it? It's breaking apart at the seams. It lives in rebellion. It lives with a lack of knowledge of what real love is. Well, where are they going to see that? They're going to see it in the church. And within the church, they'll see it in every member. But there's something unique about marriages in the church that should display the love of Christ to the world. The husbands and wives take seriously your responsibility as a witness of what God has done in Christ for the church. And we can all look forward to the day when Christ comes and He institutes eternity. And Paul says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 17, that when Christ comes, we'll be caught up together with those who've been alive at His coming in the clouds, and we will meet the Lord in the air. And it says, so we will always be with the Lord. That is the end of all things for the believer. We will be with the Lord forever and ever and ever. We will be at His side. We will be as His body to Him, and He will love us forever and ever and ever. Human marriage right now pictures that in a small way. May God help us to live that out. Let's pray. Father, you have done wonderful things in this world. You have given marriage, which is a great gift. And Father, to think that our marriages would picture the love of Christ for the church, The relationship of the church to Christ is a staggering thing. So, Father, we ask for your help to live this out. Pray that husbands and wives would live out their roles with the great seriousness and devotion that they may honor you. And I ask that the marriages here in this room would thrive and grow, that sin would be forgiven, that grace would be given, that there would be harmonious relationships, that there would be diligent work to love and respect one another. O Lord, please help and honor your Son in your church. And we thank you, Lord Jesus, that you will one day come back for your people. And so we will be with you always. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.