Ephesians 5.22-33 (7)
Pray Psalm 84.8-12.
O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
Give ear, O God of Jacob!
Selah
O God, behold our shield,
And look upon the face of Your anointed.
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
The LORD will give grace and glory;
No good thing will He withhold
From those who walk uprightly.
O LORD of hosts,
Blessed is the man who trusts in You!
Sing Psalm 84.8-12.
(Holy Manna: Brethren, We Have Met to Worship)
LORD of hosts, my prayer receiving, hear me, help me by Your grace!
In Your courts I stand believing; turn to me Your glorious face!
LORD, our sun, our shield, our glory, no good thing will You deny
to those who proclaim Your story, and who on Your grace rely.
Read Ephesians 5.22-33; meditate on verses 22 and 25.
How do the instructions in these two verses work together?
Preparation
1. Why is marriage so important?
2. What about a marriage should point to Jesus?
Meditation
Marriage is the foundational institution of Kingdom society. It is the training ground and daily harvest for divine love. It demonstrates the necessity for order and mutual respect. Marriage brings offspring and helps them grow into their individual callings. A family demonstrates the fellowship of cooperation, respect, and love. Marriage is thus a microcosm of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus proclaimed as the essence of the Good News.
Marriage also signifies Christ by serving as a type of His love and His Body. A Christian marriage, in effect, incarnates Christ to the watching world. It declares, “This is what God’s love is like. This is how His creation should be ordered. This is how Jesus lived when He was among us. This is how He rules—in love and for order—at the Father’s right hand. And just as we glorify Him in our marriage, so He did always during the time of His incarnation.”
Marriage is a place of love and comfort, growth and unity, fellowship and worship, nurture and harvest, labor and rest. There is nothing else like marriage in this world. Get married. Stay married. Get marriage right. And let your marriage be an epicenter of God’s Kingdom, a token of His Body, and a reliable source of His grace.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord” (Eph. 5.22).
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…” (Eph. 5.25).
The Common Denominator is Jesus Christ our LORD.
Many years ago, as newly marrieds, we had lots of issues with one another.
Personal irritations and hurts that muddied the waters.
So, we contacted my Bible Study teacher, a friend to us both, for counsel.
She gladly agreed, and instructed us in preparation for our time together, to each write out a list of all our grievances. We met at a restaurant with dear Pat Hunter, enjoyed our meal together, and then, getting down to business she said, “Before you each read your list, I have one question to ask: How much are you willing to take for Jesus’ sake?” Needless to say, we each folded our list, thanked our friend for her time, and went home.
Her counsel was solid. If we are doing all this submitting and loving for Jesus’ sake, “as to the Lord”, then the humanity that regularly kicks in with all our lives must be put aside, our hope focused only on Jesus and His pleasure, and move on.
If that sounds harsh or lacking in understanding, I do not mean it to sound so.
But truly, we have one goal in life and that is to please the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
These other issues are side-lined to that one purpose.
But these issues like marriage and parenting can be tremendous examples to the watching world about God’s perfect way, His ordered and loving plan for our lives.
At some point we need to set our “Disney” perception of love and marriage aside and look to God for the real way, truth, and life (Jn. 14.6). Fluff aside, marriage can be a truly beautiful institution.
“And the LORD God said,
‘It is not good that man should be alone;
I will make him a helper comparable to him’” (Gen. 2.18).
And in this marriage it will always be best, and most commodious, for both to look to Jesus.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face;
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
(Helen Lemmel, 1922)
The not-so-secret, secret to a happy marriage—all eyes on Jesus.
Reflection
1. How much does meditating on Jesus—His life, His crucifixion and resurrection, His exaltation in glory—feature in your walk with Him?
2. How would you try to help a new believer learn to meditate on Jesus?
3. What makes seeing Jesus like this so crucial to a good marriage?
The words of Adam, mentioned by the apostle, are spoken literally of marriage; but they have also a hidden sense in them, relating to the union between Christ and his church. It was a kind of type, as having resemblance. There will be failures and defects on both sides, in the present state of human nature, yet this does not alter the relation. All the duties of marriage are included in unity and love. And while we adore and rejoice in the condescending love of Christ, let husbands and wives learn hence their duties to each other. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Ephesians 5.22-33
Pray Psalm 84.1-7.
Thank the Lord for the journey of marriage and all the marriages in your Personal Mission Field and your church. Call on Him to sustain and to use them as signs of His order and love.
Sing Psalm 84.1-7.
(Holy Manna: Brethren, We Have Met to Worship)
LORD of hosts, how sweet Your dwelling; how my soul longs for Your courts!
Let my soul with joy keep telling of Your grace forevermore.
Like a bird upon the altar, let my life to You belong.
Blessed are they who never falter as they praise Your grace with song!
Blessed are they whose strength is founded in Your strength, O LORD above.
All whose hearts in You are grounded journey in Your strength and love.
Though they weep with tears of sadness, grace shall all their way sustain.
In Your Presence, filled with gladness, they shall conquer all their pain.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest: In our ReVision series on “The Kingdom Economy” we are looking at the role of culture in the Kingdom economy. Our Read Moore podcast is working through The Gospel of the Kingdom to learn what the Kingdom is and what it means. Our Crosfigell teaching letter begins a brief study of Coemgen of Glendalough. Check out our other excellent writers. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
