Ephesians 5:22, 25, 6:1 – God, Home, Country – Bible study

Eph 5:22, 25, 6:1 God, Home, and Country From the title of the message, you can probably discern that my intention is to speak about the three things that should be the most important to each and every one of us, our God, our home, and our country. That is a correct supposition; however, my intention is to focus mostly on the home this evening. Let me take you down a train of thought. Lets talk first about God and the home, then I will add country in a moment. I. The home is not a dictatorship. A. There might be some who would disagree with me, and I am not so certain that I would agreed with you in years gone by; however, I believe that I am correct when I say that God does not intend any home to be run by an earthly dictator. B. Why do I say that? What proof is there? 1. There is no command anywhere in the Scripture where God commanded anyone to direct the home. a. Someone will point out that God commands the woman to submit to the husband. b. That is true; but that only means that God wants the husband to LEAD. To form the notion that God wants the husband to be a dictator is personal supposition. c. God never told the husband to dictate to the wife. d. Now, God could have created a dictatorship if He wanted the home to be one. e. That is NOT what God wanted. 2. There is no force or punishment for the husband to use if the wife fails to follow the husbands leadership. a. God never authorized any. (1) A husband may not beat his wife. (2) A husband may not berate his wife. (3) A husband may not belittle his wife. (4) A husband may not begrudge his wife. b. To do any of these things is to go AGAINST the specific command that the Lord DID GIVE to the husband. (I will speak about that in a moment.) c. You cannot have a dictator unless the dictator has some force to go with his authority. d. The husband DOES NOT. C. So the home is not supposed to be a dictatorship. 1. Those who have made their home such a place as that have read their own suppositions into the Bible and erred. 2. Then what is the home supposed to be? 3. Here is where home and country join together. 4. Our home is supposed to have the same type of government that our country is supposed to have. II. Our home is a cooperation. To be more specific, it is a Biblical Democracy. A. I am creating that phrase, but I am creating it based on the type of government we have in America. 1. We have a Constitutional Democracy in America. 2. A Constitutional Democracy is a government operating under an authoritative document (the constitution) that sets up a system of fundamental laws and principals that determine the nature, function, and limits of that government. 3. Every branch of government, and we have three, gets its authority not by popularity, public opinion, cash payments, or might, but from the Constitution of the United States. 4. Believe it or not, although the United States is a Constitutional Democracy, it is still a cooperation. a. That means each branch of government and each citizen must agree to live within their duties and roles. b. The truth be known, if any branch of government chooses to either stop doing its duties or choose to overstep its duties, the entire government could collapse. (1) That is what our court system HAS been doing for years. (abortion, prayer removed, redefined marriage) (2) It is what our presidents have started doing with their executive orders. c. And if any TWO branches of government choose to either quit doing their duties or to overstep their boundaries, the government WOULD collapse. d. It takes a government of moral (and godly) leaders that recognize inherit with doing anything more or less than their duty and then them choosing to stay within their boundaries and to cooperate with the other branches. e. Our government DEPENDS on cooperation. B. The home is a Biblical Democracy. 1. Our document is the Bible. 2. We can leave the definition exactly the same as for a Constitutional Democracyonly change the document from the constitution to the Bible. 3. Every branch of the home, and we have three, gets its authority (and responsibilities) from the Bible. 4. Like our government must choose to cooperate for the nation to survive, so the members in the home must choose to cooperate for the home to function. 5. And like our government must choose to obey the laws and principals the constitution placed on them, so each branch of the home must choose to obey the laws and principals that the Bible has placed on it. 6. God has given to each branch of the home a single command. a. Now there are many principals but only three commands. b. If any home is going to flourish and be what God intends it to be, each member of the home is going to have to choose to cooperate. C. What are the three laws? 1. \#Eph 5:25\ Husbands, love your wives. a. The Bible does not the husbands to lead the wives but to love them. b. Husband, if you go beyond that command, you do the very same thing that the President of the United States or the courts do when they by pass they overstep their authority. (1) This is why I say that if a husband beats, berates, belittles, or begrudges his wife, he is disobeying the ONE command God did give to the husbands. (2) Those are not the behaviors of a LOVING HUSBAND. (3) How do I know? Because that is not the way Christ treats His bride, the church. (4) Being part of that bride, I can testify that I am worse mate to Jesus than any wife could be to her husband; yet Jesus has never beat, berated, belittled, or begrudged the church! (5) Dont allow your interpretation of the Bible to contradict Gods specific command! c. Husband, if you do less than that command, you are neglecting your primary duty! Doing so, you lose your purpose. 2. \#Eph 5:22\ Wives, you are to submit to your husbands. a. Wives, submission is your choice. (1) Dont get me a wrong. God is commanding wives to submit, but it is the wives choice to submit or not. (2) No man can make a wife submit. (3) No man has ever been granted the power, authority, or force to MAKE his wife submit. (4) It is her choice to submit or not. (5) Each wife must choose to cooperate with her husband and to obey the Bible. b. Husbands and wives need to be careful when they select their mates. (1) Husbands, dont select a wife who will not willing follow you. (2) Wives, do not select a husband you are not willing to follow. 3. \#Eph 6:1\ Children, you are to obey your parents. a. Sorry, kids, but for you the home is a dictatorship! b. You are not commanded to submit but to obey. c. Submission is a choice. Obedience is a required. d. By the way, God gave the parents the authority and force to force children to obey. e. It is called a spanking. Prov 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. Prov 19:18 Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. Prov 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Prov 23:13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Prov 23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Prov 29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. f. Parents, that does not mean that you have to spank your children for everything. (1) If a conversation or a time out will correct the child, use them. (2) But God granted parents the authority and the force necessary to dictate to the child the proper behavior. D. If any one of the branches in the home CHOOSES not to cooperate, that is they choose not to obey their respective command, they put the home in great danger. E. If any two branches in the home choose not to cooperate, they virtually guarantee the failure of the home. F. While God gave only three commands to the home, one for each branch, He gave dozens if not hundreds of additional principals. 1. In fact, that is what the Bible is all about (i.e. giving commands and principals to help us live in such a way that our lives, homes, families, and nations will prosper. 2. The best way to help any one of these entities is to be saved and then to be a good Christian. 3. But some of those principals are: a. Be kind e. Work b. Be faithful f. Dont let the sun go down on anger. c. Be loyal d. Be honest III. With this in mind, let me give some council on what it will take to make good homes and a good nation. A. Be saved. 1. No entity of cooperate can long exist if its members are not born again, be it the home or a government. a. Our forefathers knew that when it came to government. John Adams in a speech to the military in 1798 warned his fellow countrymen stating, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and our second President. James Wilson, Signer of the Constitution; U. S. Supreme Court Justice "Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other." b. How much more is salvation needed in the confines of home? 2. Salvation is the first step in that work! B. Accept the Bible as the Word of God. 1. The constitution is the document that empower the branches of our government but the Bible was the document that the constitutional writers used to empower it! a. The constitutions, the Bill of Rights, and the laws established by our founding fathers were mostly based on the selected Scriptures! b. Our government was putting the nation under the rule of the Bible. c. And the American people knew that and wanted it! 2. The constitution was never perfect. a. That is why written into it are the very means to change it. b. However, as corrupt men take our laws further from the Bible, they take our nation down the road of destruction. 3. How much more true is that of the home whose authority is derived not from the constitution but directly from the Bible?? a. In spite of what the Bible doubters, rewriters, and liberals say, the Bible was never to be rewritten to accommodate mans behavior; but its purpose was and is to rewrite mans behavior to accommodate God! b. Accept the Bible! C. Study the Bible. You can be ruled by a Book you do not know. D. Obey and practice ALL that it says. You are not being ruled by a Book you do not obey. E. Yield to and obey the Holy Ghost. He is the Guide to direct us in the Book. F. Love like God loves the church. 1. The only command given to the husband was to love his wife. 2. This is the supreme commandment, given not only to the husband but to all. Mt 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 3. It does not matter who you are and it does not matter who "it" is, we are ALL commanded to love EVERYONE. G. Submit like the wife is supposed to submit to God. 1. Like love is an all encompassing command, so submission is. Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. 1Pe 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. 2. This is not a command given to the wife alone. 3. It is just as certainly a command given to the husband!