We are going to peer into this idea, seek it out, and ask God to help us learn the reason for our submission and the blessing that will come when we submit.
Goals for our 4 week study
- Learn God's idea for women
- Clean our junk drawers
- Learn how to serve and why
- Learn the gift of hospitality
All through biblical submission.
Week 1- God's idea for Women
Let's start at the beginning in Genesis 2:15-18 (Please Read)
The man Adam was the first created human to dwell on the earth. God commissioned him to work and tend the garden that God had made for him. He issued the first command to man in verse 17 when he told Adam not to eat of the fruit.
So we start out with man, Adam, he is in submission to God. God gave him very specific instructions on how to live, what is expected of him, and what he is not allowed to do.
God gave Adam a choice to submit to His power and authority. God did not lock the tree up or put a wall around it. He said, "I set before you life or death, choose life."
1.) Submission gives life
Then we see in verse 18 that God saw it wasn't good for man to be alone. There are many ways God could have chosen to form Eve. The animals came forth and Adam was made from the dust of the earth. He chose however to take her from man.
Read verses 18-23
I find the next verse very interesting. Verse 24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. God took Eve from Adam then He states that they are to leave their father and mother and become one flesh. Let's dissect the term one flesh.
Read Matthew 19:4-6
The becoming of one flesh means physical through sex, spiritual the covenant before God, and social the picture of Christ and the Church before men.
Lebasar-(Hebrew for flesh)- It describes the entire human nature. So with marriage we have the father and the mother giving their children in marriage. The headship of the parent's in the marriage relationship transfers to the husband. The couple leave their father and mother and cleave to each other. There is something to be said of the family participating in the paring of two people. (that's another lesson on the importance of courtship rather than casual dating.)
I think in order to understand the importance of biblical submission we must understand the importance of the marital relationship.
#2 Submission was God's original design.
What is the wife's role?
Let's take a look back at the first wife Eve. She was created to help her husband. What are ways you think she helped her husband? List them.
She was also created to submit to her husband as the leader that God placed over her. She was the weaker vessel and needed direction. God is a God of order and design. He created the order of the universe: God, Man, Woman, animals. Man was the head of the woman from the beginning.
What does God require form us as wives? Read Ephesians 5:22-24, 33
The word respect in verse 33 is the Greek word Phobetai- it literally mans "fear". It can refer to the fear we have toward God. A reverence and respect.
If we look at our role as wives in relation to the church and Jesus it may put things into perspective. If the church is the bride of Christ and He is her husband we can see the love, fear, respect, and reverence the church has for Christ. That is what we are to imitate.
#3 Submission shows the world Jesus!
Submission goes against our sinful nature. In Genesis after the fall God told Eve she would desire her husband. This means she would desire to Lord over him. We by nature want to control our husbands. We nag, we boss, we pout, we stomp, we want our own way. And our husbands by nature let us do it. So when you see a godly woman that truly has a converted heart the seeks after God submitting to her husband it shows the world and us a picture of Christ. This is why the enemy is seeking to destroy the marriage.
HOMEWORK!
1.) PRAY! Pray for God to open your heart to submission. Ask for God to show you areas in your heart that you don't want to give up.
2.) Speak kindly to your husband! Even if he is irritating you or being ugly to you.
3.) Submit your body to your husband. Push pass NO! Become one this week in the flesh.
No comments:
Post a Comment