"...determine to see your own selfishness as a fundamental problem and to treat it more seriously that you do your spouse's. Why? You only have complete access to your own selfishness, and only you have complete responsibility for it. So each spouse should take the Bible seriously, should make a commitment to "give yourself up." You should stop making excuses for your selfishness, you should begin to root it out as it's being revealed to you, and you should do so regardless of what your spouse is doing. If tow spouses each say, 'I'm going to treat my self-centeredness as the main problem in the marriage,' you have the prospect of a great marriage."
Timothy Keller
Man, if we could also embrace this notion! Marriage, as God intended it, is the greatest tool to teach us about how we relate to Jesus and how Jesus relates to us. In Ephesians 5:32 Paul calls this a Mega Mystery.
It is my prayer for your the marriages of North Church.
Ephesians 5:21 tells us to be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
I know that I preached on this verse this morning. But my mind is stirred to think, pray and blog about it. It is so crucial for the Christian who is serious about his faith.
It appears in Ephesians when Paul is writing to a young church (in terms of the age of the church, not the people in the church). Paul is writing to tell them how to BE. In this particular part, he is warning his readers that they live in a evil time and that as such, the need to walk wisely. He goes on to tell us to be subject because of what Jesus has done.
This word that is translated as subject is the transliterated Greek word hupotasso. It is a compound word that is in part the preposition under and the word that means to place in order. If we were to place names in alphabetical order, we would be those named Allen in front of those named Baker. So in alphabetical order, Baker would be hupotasso to Allen by virtue of A coming before B.
This is scratching the surface of the beauty of this verse. We WILLINGLY place ourselves under one another. We do so because of Christ.
Jesus had every right and authority to demand worship at any time. He was and is God. But we know that Jesus did not cling to His rights as God but made Himself nothing. Instead He became obedient to the point of death even when we were rejecting Him.
More than that, Paul does not use the name Jesus, but instead uses the office that Jesus held. He uses Christ. Christ is not Jesus' name, it is the office that He held. Christ means the anointed one sent by God, as God, to empty Himself of His rights as God to die an awful death so that our inescapable predicament might be overcome.
In short, hupotasso. Because we have seen and experienced the hupotasso of Jesus. That is what informs, motivates and dictates our hupotasso.
My prayer for myself and for those God has given me charge to shepherd is that we would be daily reminded of this and seize moments to willing place ourselves under one another.
As always, thanks for reading.
I know that I preached on this verse this morning. But my mind is stirred to think, pray and blog about it. It is so crucial for the Christian who is serious about his faith.
It appears in Ephesians when Paul is writing to a young church (in terms of the age of the church, not the people in the church). Paul is writing to tell them how to BE. In this particular part, he is warning his readers that they live in a evil time and that as such, the need to walk wisely. He goes on to tell us to be subject because of what Jesus has done.
This word that is translated as subject is the transliterated Greek word hupotasso. It is a compound word that is in part the preposition under and the word that means to place in order. If we were to place names in alphabetical order, we would be those named Allen in front of those named Baker. So in alphabetical order, Baker would be hupotasso to Allen by virtue of A coming before B.
This is scratching the surface of the beauty of this verse. We WILLINGLY place ourselves under one another. We do so because of Christ.
Jesus had every right and authority to demand worship at any time. He was and is God. But we know that Jesus did not cling to His rights as God but made Himself nothing. Instead He became obedient to the point of death even when we were rejecting Him.
More than that, Paul does not use the name Jesus, but instead uses the office that Jesus held. He uses Christ. Christ is not Jesus' name, it is the office that He held. Christ means the anointed one sent by God, as God, to empty Himself of His rights as God to die an awful death so that our inescapable predicament might be overcome.
In short, hupotasso. Because we have seen and experienced the hupotasso of Jesus. That is what informs, motivates and dictates our hupotasso.
My prayer for myself and for those God has given me charge to shepherd is that we would be daily reminded of this and seize moments to willing place ourselves under one another.
As always, thanks for reading.
