Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.  He that loves his wife loves himself.  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church:  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.  This is a great mystery:  but I speak concerning Christ and the church.  Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Ephesians 5:21-33

In His relationship with His Church, Christ creates the most hospitable situation possible for His people to submit to Him.  Verses 25 through 30 describe this situation.  There is the total sacrifice of Christ; His purpose to support her to be the best version of herself; His love of her as His own body; His forsaking all others for her alone, and His solidarity with her which amounts to a total union.  This is leadership that is easy to follow.  All that God has done thus far in bringing us to be ‘in Christ’ has brought us to this place.  What we read in this passage is the logically spiritual result of being filled with the Holy Spirit.  None of the behaviors which Paul describes, for any of the roles to which he refers, are flowers that grow naturally in anyone’s garden.  If we are to the follow the Scriptures, then we must follow Christ.  If we are to follow Christ we must first look to Him and to His Spirit to bring us to imitate Him.  This makes our roles as husbands and wives totally related to Christ and utterly dependent upon Him.  This will make all the difference in how we fulfill our respective roles as husbands and wives.  Thus, He brings us to reflect ‘Christ and the church.’

Our Good and Gracious God,
we rejoice that You set Christ ever before us.
We praise You that as we look to Him,
we come to understand how to imitate Him
in every circumstance of life.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body.  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.  He that loves his wife loves himself.  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church:  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.  This is a great mystery:  but I speak concerning Christ and the church.  Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

Ephesians 5:21-33

What is the relationship between Christ and His Church?  More than that, how do we reflect that relationship in real time and in meaningful ways?  If we examine this passage carefully, we arrive at the conclusion very quickly that it is Christ and His behavior which sets the tone for everything else.  If a husband loves his wife ‘as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her;’ if he loves her as his own body, then that casts such a statement as ‘wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as to the Lord,’ in a different light.  By itself, and without the context, such a statement seems abrupt and abrasive.  Taken within the context, it brings us again to Christ and His example.  If we consider where we started, with ‘submitting to one another in the fear of God,’ we understand that there are many situations where, in order to follow Christ’s example, we will all be submitting to someone else.  Unpleasantly, not all of the people to whom we may submit reflect Christ and His behavior.  It makes it much easier when they do.  The question we must ask ourselves is, ‘How may I best imitate Christ?’  That will lead us to the wisest path of behavior as we ‘submit to one another in the fear of God.’

Our Wise and Wonderful God,
we rejoice that You have set Christ before us
as our Great Example.
We praise You that by Your Holy Spirit,
You lead us to Christlike behavior.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:18-20

The Holy Spirit is the prime mover in the application of redemption to us.  This includes our sanctification.  As Paul is writing regarding the practical implications of what it means to be in Christ, he arrives at the statement of our text for today, ‘And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.’  The contrast he makes is between being filled with wine and being filled with the Holy Spirit.  To be filled with wine produces drunkenness, which is excess or dissipation.  Having said that, the statement which Paul is making leads us to the greater point which is to be ‘filled with the Spirit.’  How does anyone become drunk with wine?  They do so, by making use of the available means.  They continue until they are full to overflowing with the wine and the effects it produces.  So, to carry the analogy forward, if we are to ‘be filled with the Spirit,’ we will make use of the means of which God has afforded us.  These are the means which the Holy Spirit uses to take the things of Christ and show them to us.  They include, but are not limited to, ‘speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’  By these means we interact with God by the Spirit who conforms us to the image of Christ.  There is no other path to Christlikeness.  This bring us to joyfully embrace these means He has afforded us.

Our Good and Generous God,
we rejoice that You have bestowed upon us,
an abundance of means whereby we may come to know Christ.
We praise You that the Holy Spirit
makes use of these things,
to show Him to us and
to conform us to His Image.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:16

Why should we ‘redeem the time?’  As the Apostle Paul is writing to the Ephesians regarding the practical application of what it means to be ‘in Christ,’ he has come to the point where he has challenged them to ‘redeem the time.’  To ‘redeem the time’ is to have a sense of urgency about the promotion of the Person and Work of Christ with an eye toward advancing His Kingdom and building His Church.  It prompts us to look to Him daily to bring us into contact with those to whom we can practically minister.  By these divine appointments God works to draw these people unto Himself to build His Church.  Paul’s reason for us to have a sense of urgency regarding the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom is ‘because the days are evil.’  On the day of Pentecost, Peter indicated that the last days had arrived.  We have no idea how long those days will last, but, we understand that the spiritual environment will grow worse and worse.  This means that in the larger scheme of things, the remaining life expectancy of this world is relatively short.  It is for this reason that Paul challenged the Ephesians to ‘redeem the time.’  If this was their challenge it has become our challenge.  Therefore we make much of Christ.

Our Eternal God and Heavenly Father,
we rejoice that You know the end from the beginning.
We praise You, that You will continue
to be faithful unto us throughout all our days
and unto eternity.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning