We are working through Ephesians, and we come to chapter 5, verse 22 this morning. We're going to talk, we'll kind of dig more into the text directly next time, but we're going to talk about a general principle of submission, a spirit of submission, and relate that to the text as we go. I want to talk more generally about that this morning and our understanding of that. 

We're continuing our study in chapter 5, verse 22, and we're in an application section of the Epistle. Paul is giving us some very practical, important instructions concerning how we should live in light of who we are in Christ. As we discussed last week, when it comes to practical application, sometimes things can get a bit uncomfortable. 

We need to remember that we are what we are by the grace of God, but we are not yet what we shall be. In other words, we are in the process of sanctification. We are being conformed to the likeness of Christ, and this means that there needs to be changes made in how I think and how I live as I renew my mind to the truth of God's Word, as I learn to trust and believe Him and more faithfully obey what He says. If I've not yet arrived, then I need to be willing to change. I need to be willing to fix what is wrong in my thinking and therefore in my living. 

This can sometimes be a hard thing for us. The world sits in stark contrast to the church. The thinking, the wisdom, the living of the Gentiles is at odds with God's Word, His truth, and His best for us. The forces of the world, as well as the sin that dwells in us, are a powerful influence on how we think, what we believe, so that sometimes what God says is difficult for us to truly accept and take for ourselves and apply. 

But that is exactly what we must do, what Paul's imploring us to do in this important part of the letter to the Ephesians and throughout the New Testament. Jesus said, sanctify them by your truth; your word is truth. We must settle once for all that what we want is truth. What we want is what God wants. We must choose to believe that our loving Father, full of grace and mercy, always does what is best for us and always knows what is best for us. 

I know we would all give quick assent to this, but I want you to really think about it. Do I believe and trust what God says? Do I have a spirit of submission in my relationships and ultimately to my Lord? As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, in the spiritual war in which we live and operate, a war of truth versus error, we must take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and know and believe what God says to be true and seek by His grace and power to apply it in our lives for our good and for His glory. 

In our text today, we're going to pick up where we left off in verse 21 and apply the general instruction of a spirit of submission to one another to specific relationships in our lives. We're going to discuss God's plan of an attitude and heart of submission in the various relationships that He has designed and how having this spirit is of great benefit, not only for God's glory and His will and purpose in our lives, but also that it is most beneficial for us as well. 

Let's look at our text, Ephesians 5:22. 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. Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 

So husbands ought to love their own 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 the Lord does the church, for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. 

I've given you five points on your outline this morning. First, authority submission. Second, assault on the family. Third, affirming God's Word. Fourth, applying who we are. And fifth, a spirit of submission. 

Well, in 5:21, it says, "submitting to one another in the fear of God." This is Paul's conclusion to our relationships within the body, in the church, and how we should relate to one another. In the literal in verse 22, it says, "the wives to their own husbands as to the Lord." In verse 21, we see that our attitude toward one another in the body, in the church, is to be one of mutual submission, an attitude of submission, yielding to one another for the good of others above ourselves. 

Paul then takes this principle of submission and makes application in three particular relationships in the details of our lives, where we live in practical application: first, in the marriage relationship, then parents and children, and finally in the employer-employee relationship. What we need to understand is that God has designed all relationships in this parameter, in an authority-submission relationship. 

This is true in every realm, every relationship, even in the relationship of Jesus to the Father. In 1 Corinthians 11:3, it says, "but I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God." The point here is not about equality or value or ability. God is not greater than Jesus, nor are they somehow unequal. They are equally God in character and nature. Nor is the man better or greater spiritually or in character or ability or intelligence or anything than the woman. 

What we are talking about here is the role of each individual in a relationship that God has designed for us to live and operate. So Jesus is submissive to the Father. In this relationship of God the Father and God the Son, Jesus said, "I always do what pleases the Father." I and the Father are one, yes, equal, but in the relationship of Father to Son, Jesus has chosen to submit his will to the Father, to have an attitude of submission, a spirit of submission, and obey the Father's will. 

Every relationship that God has designed, He has designed in this way. We see this throughout the scriptures, and Jesus is the ultimate example. We see a similar structure to Ephesians in the writings of Peter, particularly in Peter's first epistle. He begins by talking about our great salvation, you remember, in the first chapter of 1 Peter, how God has caused us to be born again to a living hope, how He has regenerated us, placed us into Christ, made us holy, just as Paul explains what it means to be in Christ, and then exhorts us to live in light of it. 

So Peter emphasizes our new birth, our hope in Jesus, and then exhorts us to live out who we are and apply these truths to our living. Our living exists, it happens, in the structure of relationships, authority, submission, relationships. 

Turn over to 1 Peter 2 with me, and we'll look at some of what Peter wrote. 1 Peter 2:13, he says, "therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bond servants of God. Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." 

Perhaps the broadest relationship in which we live in human culture and society, designed and instituted by God for our good, is the relationship to those who rule over us, who govern us. What does God say here in 1 Peter? What does He say in Romans 13? Consistently have an attitude of submission, honor the king, submit yourself to his rule, and obey the authorities over you. 

I know I'm talking to a bunch of youpers, and I know that rubs you a little bit. It's difficult sometimes, but God makes clear that the government is there as His minister to maintain order and peace and allow us to live without fear. Look at 1 Timothy 2 with me. 1 Timothy 2, verse 1, Paul says something very interesting here. He says, "therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings, and all who are in authority," look at this, "...that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." 

What's verse 4 doing there? What does it matter that God wants men to be? How does that relate to me being submissive to the authorities, to living a quiet and peaceable life? Paul ties our submissive attitude and obedience to those who rule over us and the resulting quiet and peaceable life along with prayer as a grounds for reaching lost men, as the salvation of lost souls, God's very desire. 

So we are to be submissive to the ruling authorities, and we are also to be submissive in the employer-employee relationship regardless of the temper or character of our bosses. Look at verse 18 of 1 Peter 2. This is a stunning text, really. "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God." 

"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth." Here's our example. "Who when he was reviled did not revile in return. When he suffered he did not threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now have returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls." 

The spirit of the world is rebellion, it's self-satisfaction, self-promotion at the expense of the good of others. It is a great desire to have things my way, justice for me, and if my circumstances are bad, if I have been wronged, then I deserve to rebel, to be angry, and to exact revenge. This is evident in our world, in the employment situation we now see. 

When I was young, the motto concerning work was an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. Now it's a double pay for no work. Certainly, the same spirit of get what you can existed, and one of the greatest examples of this was the labor unions that ruled my hometown as tens of thousands of people worked for General Motors, or what we called Generous Motors when I was a kid. 

The unions negotiated insane contracts, and the employees took full advantage of that massive company, but there was still the idea in my youth that a man was to work, to work hard for his employer, and was to have an attitude of obedience to what the boss said. This has deteriorated to an unbelievable level in our time where no one wants to work, and the expectation for pay is off the charts. This is a major reason why the cost of everything is so high. If flipping burgers is worth $20 an hour, then your Happy Meal will reflect that labor cost. 

So the world tells us, get all you can, take advantage of your employer, protest, picket, strike, seek more and more for less and less labor, but God says in His Word that we are to have an attitude of submission toward our employers, that we are to work as unto the Lord, and this is an admonition that we see over and over in all of these instructions concerning relationships where He says, "as to the Lord." 

When I work, I am not ultimately submitting myself to my boss, but I am working and submitting to my Lord, to Jesus, and this is a major part of my witness in this world. So we see that this attitude of submission exists in the relationships with God has designed for me to live in, and this is true in my relationship in society, to the government, in my employment, and at the core of this is the relationships in the home, God's great design for the building block of society, the family. 

Within the family, God has designed roles for the man, the woman, and the children, and just as the church is subject to Jesus, her loving Savior and Lord, so we see in our text that the woman is to be subject to the man, her husband, as to the Lord. This is so contrary to our world, to the wisdom and philosophy of men, to Satan and his schemes to destroy the family, and to the rebellious spirit of men and women in our society. 

This spirit of rebellion has existed since the fall of Lucifer and was manifest in man in the garden, with the sin of Adam bringing death and the curse into the world. The curse that we see concerning the woman in the garden is that her desire would be to rule over her husband, a perversion of God's plan and role for her in marriage and the family. We see this spirit of rebellion consistently throughout human history: man rebelling against the government, against their bosses, against their God-given role in the home, against God. 

And what is the fruit of this? What happens when man rebels against God and His will and His plan and purpose for each one of us? Chaos, suffering, pain, abuse; the fruit of rebellion exists in every one of these relationship areas in our world. God designed marriage in the garden before the fall: one man, one woman to procreate and fill the earth. Through this first and basic relationship designed by God, He would bless and build the whole of society, the various relationships of man, in which man could thrive, produce, enjoy, and be blessed by the grace and mercy and creation of God, and could bring glory to God in the course of his life. 

At every turn, man and woman have rebelled and gone their own way, rejecting God's plan for him and the authority and submission relationships. The first feminist movements did not begin in the 60s in America; they have existed since the beginning, since the fall in the garden, and surely existed in Paul's time, as we see in Rome and particularly in Corinth. But what has been the fruit of these rebellious movements in our time, in my lifetime? 

God gave to woman the most important role, the most influential role in society, in the home, the raising and nurturing of children, and to love and support and enjoy her marriage and her husband. But the feminist movement told the woman that she did not need a man, that God's plan for the family was a lie meant to suppress her and oppress her, subjugate her to evil men, and the behavior and abuses of sinful men toward their wives often fostered this situation. 

There existed always among two sinful people in the context of marriage an abundance of conflict. But the breakdown of the family has been a focused battle plan for Satan against God, and man by his rebellious spirit has brought ruin upon himself and his world. The fruit of this is evident, the statistics are clear, the effects of welfare and the great society are fatherless homes and children, and the results are staggering and tragic. 

The rebellious spirit continues to devolve as we see patterned in passages like Romans 1, where God gives us over to our sins. Now our society has deemed it prudent not only to break down the roles of men and women as God intended but to eliminate the concept and reality of the existence of a distinction between men and women at all. 

Now we have umpteen genders, and we cannot even define what a woman is. This is the fruit of leaving the plan and purpose of God for our good within the roles for which He designed us. I read the other day that there are a hundred and forty-five official days a year in the United States recognizing LGBTQ factions. In fact, August 14th, my anniversary, is officially recognized as Gay Uncle Day. 

The education, the influence of media and entertainment, the influence of rebellion is so powerful. These things have so tainted our thinking and caused us to move from the mind and thoughts and Word of God that it has become very difficult, even controversial, for us to recognize and affirm and believe, let alone obey what God says. 

Let me ask you honestly, what is better for man, for woman, for children, for you? Is it God's plan within authority, submission, roles, and relationships? A spirit of submission starting with the family and building society from there? Or is it a spirit of rebellion against God and going our own way according to our own wisdom and ideas? Look around at our world. What is truth? What are lies? Where does rejecting God take us? Who knows what is best for us? 

The question is, who do you trust? Who do you believe? Now I want to be abundantly clear here; what we're talking about is not an external confirmation to some sort of cookie-cutter pattern, or way we dress, or way we look, or way we do church, or anything like that. What we're talking about is a spirit, an attitude of submission, and commitment to knowing, believing, and obeying what God says is true. 

This takes many different forms and looks different in different times and cultures and places, but the point is that there are roles, there are distinctions culturally, societally, between men and women. I was thinking about the way we do church here on a Sunday morning. The way we do church at Living Hope is much different than the way that Philip and Stephens do church in India or the way they do church at New Jerusalem Fellowship, the Haitian Fellowship in the Bahamas. 

I've preached and taught in these places in the context of their worship and church service, and I can tell you it's much different than Sunday morning in Winchester. That does not mean that one outward expression is right or wrong, or one style of music or dress is right or wrong, because what underlies the hearts and minds of all these brothers and sisters in these different places in different cultures is a heart and spirit of submission in the various relationships of their lives, and ultimately, to their Lord. 

Within the various cultures, there are distinctions for men and women. In Corinth, for example, in Paul's time, it was long hair or head coverings that was culturally appropriate for an attitude of submission for women in the church, and to shave your head or take off your head covering was an act of rebellion, was a symbol of being a harlot. That doesn't mean that it's inherently wrong for a woman to have short hair. But that was the sign, the symbol, the distinction in that culture at that time, and everyone understood that. 

We have devolved so far in our culture today that we cannot even tell by any distinction who is male and who is female. I'm always asking my wife, and that's a spirit of rebellion. That's a purposeful plot meant to destroy God's plan for the family. Bobby and I were in a Brugger's bagel store in Minneapolis a few months ago, and there was a young woman standing at the counter with her back to us, and as Jerry Clower said, I could tell she was a female by the way her dungarees were fitting her. 

I don't know if you know who Jerry Clower is apparently, but it's a good story. She clearly had a woman's voice, she had feminine features, but when she turned around, she had a big full red beard, and I was shocked, and I stared, and my wife said, "stop it." There's a purposeful plan in our society, a rebellion against God and His design to eliminate distinctions and roles between men and women. 

It's not about equality; it's not about value; it's about destroying God's plan for the family. So we see that God has designed all of these relationships for us to live in, and all exist in an authority-submission context. We see that there's a spirit of rebellion originating with Satan that seeks to destroy the basic building block of God's plan for blessing, an assault on the family. 

Well, next we see that what we need in the church, in our homes, in our own hearts and minds, is an affirming of the Word and the will of God. Jesus is the ultimate example of this at the cross. In 1 Peter 2:21, again, he says, "for to this you were called, suffering, you were called to suffer, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps." 

What did Jesus do? He committed himself to him who judges righteously. This is the core of the issue. Do I entrust myself to God and his Word and his will? Do I believe that He knows what is best, or do I think, believe that I know better than God? You see, the Word of God is not unclear. In every relationship, I am to have a spirit of submission and to trust ultimately in God's love and grace and care for me, regardless of the circumstances. 

Sometimes it does not seem that submission is what is best for me, and again, what we're talking about is an attitude of submission. It's not a submission to that which is wrong or evil; it's submission in my attitude. If I'm working for my boss and he's not good to me, if I'm going to remain in that job, I still am going to work hard. I'm still going to work as unto the Lord. That doesn't mean I approve of him or what he does or affirm that evil. 

What it means is I have a spirit, an attitude of submission, and I work according to that. I may have a real jerk for a boss; he may not be fair. In Peter's day, he may even beat me physically. In our day, by the grace of God, we have freedom to find a new job, to find a better situation. But Peter's clear, even if I have an abusive boss, even if I find myself in a situation I cannot get out of and it's not good, my attitude is submission. My attitude is obedience. 

I still work hard; I do my best, and I work as unto the Lord. It may not seem right; it may be contrary to my feelings, my wisdom, the wisdom of the world. It may not seem fair, but the question is, what is best for me and my witness and for the glory of God if I am in that situation, good or bad? What is best for me? To be a victim? What's best for me? To be angry and bitter? To rebel? 

What's best is to entrust myself to the Lord and to work as unto the Lord. It is submission; it is suffering patiently; it is entrusting myself to God and His care, His provision, and His will. This is the very example that Jesus set for us. The cross, humanly speaking, did not seem like a very good idea. Jesus wrestled with this in the garden, if there's any other way but not my will but God's be done. The essence of this attitude is entrusting ourselves to God and trusting His will. 

Was the cross what was best? Was it fair? Was it just? Did Jesus deserve that? Did God know better than man, than all the religions that man has come up with, trying to find another way? What was better for the salvation of the world? What was better for the good of man, for the glory of God? It was for Jesus to die, to experience the most unjust circumstance that has ever occurred, and for God the Father to pour out His wrath on Jesus in our place for our sins. 

This glorified God; this accomplished the salvation of everyone who believes. This is God's plan, and it's the only way that He could remain just and be the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. And this principle of submission applies to every relationship in which we live in this world, including marriage. 

Peter said that marriage is the grace of life. God's greatest good for us in the context of relationships and the building block of society and our own personal benefit is marriage. It is the best, highest grace of our lives and brings us the most blessings in the closest friendship we have with a spouse, in the joy and privilege of children, in the social context of relation to other families. Marriage is a great blessing from God, but marriage can also be the most difficult part of our lives sometimes. 

How do circumstances affect this principle of submission? You might say, "well, you don't know my husband. He doesn't love me like he should; he doesn't meet my needs; he doesn't listen to me; he doesn't spend time with me; he doesn't love me like God says he should love me." Or you husbands might say, "well, she doesn't respect me; she's always nagging and getting on me." 

It is in this circumstance that the principle of submission becomes even more important. God's best, His plan, is for a woman to submit to and respect her husband and a husband to love his wife and give himself for her even as Christ loved the church. In this best case of obedience to God and the manifestation of an attitude of submission, we find the highest joy and glorify God and are a witness to the world. 

But circumstances are not usually the best in this cursed world, and everyone doesn't do what they're supposed to do. So we find instruction for what our attitude should be, how we should act when someone in the relationship is not obeying the Word of God or does not even know God. Turn to 1 Peter 3 with me, please. 

1 Peter chapter 3, verse 1. "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the Word, they without a word may be won by the conduct of their wives when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel. Rather, let it be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God." 

Is your husband lost, or is he saved and not obeying the word? He does not love you as God commands or treats you as he should. Then all the more have an attitude of submission so that he might be won without a word brought back to a place of obedience and submission to God. 

Let your adornment be the hidden person of the heart with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is very precious in the sight of God. And we can make the same point of application for the husband. Your wife's not submissive, does not respect you, is rebellious in her spirit, not walking in the spirit; what should you do? Love her. Love her even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. 

You see, the principle of submission is not dependent on circumstances. So the behavior of the other person is not my concern nor my business. It's not my job to make my wife be submissive, nor is it her job to make me love her. No matter my situation, my obligation is to entrust myself to God, to believe and obey Him and do what He has called me to do, even if that means suffering. Peter says, "for to this you were called." 

There will be suffering in marriage. There will be suffering in the workplace. There will be suffering with our children. People talk about the terrible twos. Nobody told us about the 22s. There will be suffering. There'll be suffering with our government. Corrupt men will do awful things because men are sinful, because we do not always treat each other the way we should, because this is a cursed world. Sometimes life is very difficult. 

Rebellion and fighting and anger and bitterness do not make it better, but a spirit of submission, looking to and entrusting ourselves to God, this is always best. The best thing for me in any relationship, regardless of the circumstances, is to have an attitude of submission, to entrust myself to God. It is out of this general principle of submission in verse 21 of Ephesians 5 that Paul says, "wives, likewise, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands as to the Lord." 

Affirm God's Word. Trust Him and know that what He says is best. In submitting to your husbands, you're ultimately submitting to Jesus. This means, again, in the flow and context of our text, applying who we are. We could go back to chapter 4 and look at several verses. In chapter 5, at verse 7, Paul says, "therefore, do not be partakers with them, for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them." 

You were once darkness, but now you're light. You should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, and this includes marriage, includes the family. The world fights for its own interests. The husband is selfish, sometimes abusive. The wife manipulates to get what she wants, does what she has to do in order to protect her interests. 

There is conflict, animosity, deception, unfaithfulness, divorce. This is marriage in the world among the pagans. This is not who you are. Therefore, marriage should be very different in the church. The home and family should be very different than the world. Peter says something very interesting in that passage in chapter 3. He says to the husbands, "husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered." 

We as believing husbands are to have understanding concerning our wives, and one major part of this is understanding that our wives are the weaker vessel. There's a lot of thoughts on this, but I think what it means is that as one is in submission in the relationship, the wife is in the more vulnerable position. 

There is, as Peter says, sometimes fear as to what the husband might do, what decisions he might lead her and the family into. Peter says to the wife, "be submissive without any terror," trusting the Lord. But he says to the husbands, "remember that you must honor her, hold her up, love her, and be mindful that she is vulnerable, and you could fall to abusing that relationship." 

We, as born-again believers, should think about these things, particularly about what is best for my wife, the gracious, precious gift that God has given to me. Be careful, men, with the role that God has given you concerning your wife and your family. Apply who you are; live in light of who you are; love one another, submit to one another, trust the Lord, and know that He is faithful through every difficulty. 

Marriage is hard. How do we, as believers, respond to the hard times? Let me ask you this: does a spirit of rebellion ever help? Does bitterness and animosity and hatred and selfishness ever make it better? Does getting justice for myself make everything better? Finances are tough, children are rebellious, husbands and wives can be selfish, and you're having a hard time in your home. 

What is the answer as a believer in Jesus Christ? Love, gentleness, a spirit of submission, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. We must apply who we are and live in consistency with who we are in Christ in marriage. Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. A spirit of submission is the key to every relationship, and this is our final point in the lesson of our text: submit yourselves to one another. 

What does this mean in practical application? It means that in these relationships in which we live in our world, we must be willing to submit to the Word of God, to His intent for us. Here, in our text, God says, "wives, submit to your husbands." In the marriage relationship, in the home, wives are to submit to their husbands as to the Lord in all things, it says. 

We know from the Scriptures that this has limitations. We are to obey God rather than men. If our boss tells us to do something illegal, I've been in that position; we obey God, not our boss. I didn't know God then, but I wouldn't do anything to put me in prison, so I didn't do that. Likewise, if a husband is leading his wife into that which contradicts the Word of God, then she's not supposed to follow that lead. 

But in all things, it says, in the home, in the marriage, the husband is the one who is responsible to lead, to make decisions, to oversee and shepherd his family. Notice, he is responsible to Jesus. He will give an account for how he leads his family. She is responsible to her own husband. These are important words we should touch on; it is emphasized here in the Greek, "to her own husband," her own personal possession. 

She is to be submissive, not to any and every man in her life, but to her own husband. Think about if we flip that: "husbands love all wives." That doesn't make any sense, does it? Wives, submit to your own husbands. Husbands, love your own wives, he says three times in this text. This is how God has designed this relationship, much the same as He has in the workplace, in the world, or in the church. 

It does not mean that there's any inequality, any greater ability, or intelligence, or wisdom, or spirituality in either case. It does not mean that wives do not have great input and wisdom to offer and are not more spiritual often. We do well as husbands to listen to them, to heed their counsel, to seek God's will together as a team. Submission is about the roles that God has designed, and we all do well to heed these things, to trust God in them, and obey what He says. 

In this, we entrust ourselves to Him who judges righteously, knowing that He cares for us, He knows what is best for us, He designed us, He made us, and He always does what is best. A spirit of submission is precious in the sight of God. Next time we'll finish this text and emphasize what God says to the husbands, a very high and strict standard to love our wives as Christ loves the church. Paul gives us that picture. 

In verse 32, he says, "I speak concerning Christ and His church." There's a great mystery here. I pray that we will understand what God says in His Word and that we will believe him, and we will trust him, we will obey him in this, and in all the relationships of our lives, we'll have a spirit of submission. 

Closing prayer: Father, we thank you that you love us. We thank you that you tell us the truth. We thank you that you always do what's best and that we know that you're our Father, that you are accessible to us, that you have grace upon grace, and that you're sufficient for our lives each day. There are many circumstances, many hard things in this life and in the various relationships of our lives. Help us to work as unto the Lord, to love our wives, respect our husbands as you prescribed, for children to obey their parents, to be submissive and live a quiet and peaceable life in our society that we might be a witness, Lord. 

Help us to understand what these things mean and to choose to believe you and depend on you to make it a reality each day of our lives. For your glory, for witness, and for our good, in Jesus' name, amen.