A
few years ago, one of the major denominations made a statement
concerning this very part of the marriage relationship "that the
husband was to be the head of the wife," and remember the
liberal press just about went into orbit. We remember all the
feminist movements had a fit, and one lady said that had
set equal rights back at least 50 years. No, the Christian
community is not setting anything back, but rather we are
exemplifying what the Scriptures says about the husband and wife
relationship. Marriage is a covenant of two, in and through
blood, the virgin's issue (these is from both individuals as the male and female are both to be virgins upon entry) of blood at consummation of the marriage
vows. Just as Jesus' blood was shed even before going to the tree of
execution, each blow He suffered drew blood, each whip cord (the whip
of nine tails had broken shards of pottery woven into each cord) drew
blood as it lacerated His flesh, when the crown of thrones
(representing the curse of the ground) was pushed into His head every
spike drew blood and then there are the wrists of His hands and the
heels of His feet through which spikes were driven. Not to leave out
the spear which pierced His side from which both water and His blood
flowed after it had punctured the sack which surrounds the heart and
fills with water while a body hangs suspended and in great distress.
I
have said it as long as we have been sharing, there has never been
anything so instrumental in giving women their freedom, and their
rights as Christianity has. We want to remember all the way back in
human history, not just in Israel, but in all of human history, the
women were consider as nothing, they were used a chattel and slaves.
They could not get an education, they could not read, they could not
work math, they were kept ignorant purposely. Christianity is what
opened the door for them. I have said it over and over, do not
ever accuse Paul of being anti-feminist. He and Jesus did more for
the female gender than any other man of the human race.
We
had a lady say, "Bill I used to hate the Apostle Paul, I
wouldn’t read any of his letters, in fact I didn’t even think it
should be in the Bible. It was such a strong feeling that I also
passed it on to my two married daughters. But thanks to you, I can
now see the Scriptures completely differently. I see now that Paul is
our Apostle, and now I’ve got both my daughters convinced."
Well praise the Lord that her eyes were opened. Here the apostle
simply goes back to the format that God intended. Oh it’s not what the
sociologists think, or the psychologists say, or what the advice
columns say, but what God says. Don’t lose sight of this. In
this whole format of being filled with the Spirit, speaking and
singing in songs, and making melody, giving thanks to God for
everything, what does the next verse say?
Ephesians
5:21
"Submitting
yourselves one to another in the fear of God."
You
see we are in a time when people do not like to submit to anybody.
We are in the period of the big egos, the big number ONE. The old crooner Bing Crosby hit song "I Did It My Way," kind of thing. But the
scripture says, "that we are still to be submissive first and
foremost to God. That is an attitude of the Christian life. That is having the mind of Christ! A verse just comes to mind in the book of Psalms. We hadn’t intended to use this, but we referred
someone to this a few days ago who was going through some trying
times. They were almost despairing that God was even aware of them.
But even Peter a tests to our having to go through trying times. So
let’s look at 1 Peter 1:7 and 4:12 and Psalms 37:5 and we can pass
this on to anybody that is going through trying times, whatever the
case may be. Even though it is Old Testament, and David speaking it,
yet God has not changed.
We
told someone that they were putting too much of their doctrine on the
Old Testament, that being the Law. He said, "Well what am I
supposed to do, throw it away?" No. You do not throw the Old
Testament away, it is the same God, the only thing is He is now
operating differently, then He did under Law, He is doing differently
within us under Grace. But many things that David says are very
appropriate for us in the Church Age, and this is one of them. But to
get full advantage of the Old we need to have the eyes and ears that
the New only provides, as Jesus said have a clear eye, to light our
whole being.
I
am not quite sure how this all fits but this morning early He said,
“those who do not gather with Me, scatter.” I looked this
up and found it in Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23 and have read and
reread these verses in their context and what it is saying to me is,
If we do not walk out His Life restored within us then we scatter to
the four winds those He wants to draw to Himself through us. For this
to happen in His way we have to have surrendered our life (of self
rule) for His Life, the whole meaning of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Romans
12:1-5, along with the understanding of Galatians 2:20.
Psalms
37:5
"Commit
* thy way unto
the LORD; trust also in him**;
and he shall
bring it to pass."
*that
is in the category of submitting. **remember there are three words
that means the same thing, Trust, Faith, and Believe.
We do not know when, we just rest in the fact that it is in
God’s hands, and we submit it into His care and keeping. Then we
come down to verse 7, and what is the first word?
Psalms
37:7a
"Rest
in the LORD,..."
Once
we have committed something to God, we can rest. We have used this
illustration more than once. Say you are taking a trip on an
airplane, you find your seat, and get all squared away and take off.
Do you start fretting and sweating and wondering, "is this plane
going in the wrong direction?" Maybe some people do, but we
think the average passenger sits down, picks up something to read,
and you have totally committed your life and direction to the
airline. And you just absolutely trust that they are going to take
you where you intended to go. Well it is the same way within the
spiritual realm, once we have committed to the Lord, then we know
what direction we are going, and we do not have to wonder and
worry.
Psalms
37:7a
"Rest
in the LORD, and wait patiently for him:..."
But
you see we are not patient, we are living in a time of instant
gratification. I want it right now. But you see the Lord does
not move as fast as we think He should, but rest assured if we wait
patiently, He is going to bring it to pass. In most cases and
without our ever knowing it, it was a done deal from the onset
because God is always a NOW, because our trusting faith is the
substance. Even though we do not yet see or sense the thing asked
for, believing is the receptivity of, Now.
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