Devoted Love
Being the Bride of Christ • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 5 viewsWhat the bride does because of His love: Submission through devotion
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I’m a big geek. I enjoy reading comic books, watching superhero movies and pretty much all things geeky (or nerdy…take your pick). I used to hide this from people, fearing judgment. But, I don’t so much anymore…I figure people will probably judge me anyway.
One of my favorite superhero movies is the Batman movie, The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger played The Joker in that movie and it’s widely considered the best portrayal of not just The Joker, but of any comic book villain.
I heard someone say the other day that not a week goes by that he doesn’t quote something from that movie, often times from what The Joker says. I realized, I probably fit in that category too. One of my favorite quotes is when he’s sitting next to Harvey Dent’s hospital bed, dressed like a nurse, with his crazy face paint on and he says, “Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it! You know, I just do things.”
Well, let’s not just do things when it comes to being the bride of Christ. He’s not calling us to be a bunch of jokers, right?
So far, throughout this series we’ve looked at what Christ has done and what He is continually doing for His bride, the church.
The next step is to consider what the bride should do in response to what Christ has done and continually does for us.
For this, we will look at Ephesians 5:22-24.
Body
Body
Read Ephesians 5:22-24.
To grasp these verses fully, we have to turn our attention back to verses 1-2, 15-16 & 21, as Paul is speaking about how Christians are supposed to walk in love. He says:
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.
submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
The idea here is that a person who is filled with the Spirit will grow to understand authority and will submit to the proper, God-ordained authority.
In verses 22-33, Paul shows how this submission is carried out within the family.
In the first part of the series, we looked at Paul’s command for husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
And, as we’ve made clear throughout the series, though the main focus of this text is the familial relationships, we are looking at how Paul illustrates that relationship with the relationship of Christ to His bride, the church.
So, at the beginning of this section, Paul tells wives to submit to their own husbands, as to the Lord.
It implies voluntary yielding to one who has leadership authority.
In the Greco-Roman world wives were not called to submit, but to obey completely.
But, within the biblical worldview, this is a willing subjection to a spiritual head (like the church willing submits to the spiritual head which is Christ Jesus).
This submission is not done out of compulsion or threat, but joyfully and out of a heart-felt desire.
Now, while this text is worthwhile for analyzing the relationship of a wife to her husband, we are going to focus our attention on the relationship of the bride towards Christ.
Big Idea: Because Christ is the head of the bride, the bride submits to Christ.
Big Idea: Because Christ is the head of the bride, the bride submits to Christ.
Key Term: Submit
submit = ὑποτάσσω (hypo tass o)
To be or become inclined or willing to submit to orders or wishes of others; to bring something under the firm control of someone; to make subordinate; to subject.
In a society, we see the need for both submission and authority. There is no authority without submission, and no submission without authority. Without these we have anarchy, which will always cannibalize itself eventually.
Within the church, the bride of Christ submits to the authority of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, without whom we could not possibly be in fellowship with God.
Notice a couple of vital things:
Christ is the head of the church (authority);
The church is Christ’s body;
Christ is the church’s Savior;
The church submits to Christ is everything.
How do we submit to Christ?
During the next three sermons we are going to see three biblical ways in which the bride submits to Christ Jesus. All three are things that we see in a strong marital relationship as well:
By being devoted to Him.
By being faithful to Him.
By serving Him and His bride.
We will start with this:
The church submits to Christ by being devoted to Him.
The church submits to Christ by being devoted to Him.
What does devotion mean, biblically?
There are at least nine different words used (Hebrew = 2 Greek = 7) that are translated as “devote” or “devotion”.
Depending on the context it can mean:
To set aside something or someone for God or for destruction;
To persevere in some activity or cause;
To be consistent or reliable;
To select something or someone for a specific purpose;
To pay close attention to;
To give oneself entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause;
To diligently follow the course of someone or something.
It’s these last two definitions that we are interested in here:
To give oneself entirely to a specific person and to diligently follow that person.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
Thus, the bride should constantly strive to give herself entirely to Jesus and diligently follow Him wherever He might lead.
How is being devoted submitting to Christ?
If we set out to give ourselves entirely to following Jesus, diligently following His leadership, we are submitting to His authority in our lives and acknowledging that His way is better than our own.
A biblical illustration of devotion: Psalm 63.
Psalm of David while in the wilderness of Judah, on the run from his son, Absalom, who tried to take David’s place as king. (See 2 Samuel 15-19)
Verses 1 - We express our devotion to Christ by hungering and thirsting for Him.
Verses 1 - We express our devotion to Christ by hungering and thirsting for Him.
Hungering and thirsting are powerful images for humans because we know what it’s like to experience both…though to a lesser degree today in America than others have throughout history, or do in other parts of the world.
The desert, where David was driven to by his son, creates an intense longing for basic necessities. It is that same longing that David expresses here.
So, if we are going to be truly devoted to Christ, we must have an intense longing to have our spiritual hunger and thirst satisfied by Christ Jesus.
I’ve started dietary fasting…(typically 12 hours, sometimes 14, once or twice 16)
When I am able to go sixteen hours of fasting, I’m super hungry when I get to about hour 13…by hour 16, all I can think about is getting something to eat.
What if we started every morning with this kind of hunger for spending time with Jesus? How would our spiritual life be impacted? (How about we try and see?)
Verses 2-4 - We express our devotion to Christ by worshiping Him.
Verses 2-4 - We express our devotion to Christ by worshiping Him.
We have spend the first half of this series talking about what Jesus has done and is constantly doing for His people.
The only logical and reasonable response to Jesus sacrificial love, sanctifying love, satisfying love, and visible love is to worship Him.
Indeed, as His followers, we behold His “power and glory”; we understand that Jesus’ love is better than life; and because of that, we praise and bless Him all the days of our lives.
But, too often our worship is going through the motions. Read David’s words again…does this sound like someone going through the motions?
Don’t wait until a crisis comes to worship Christ like David is doing here.
A favorite preacher of mine put worship into a simple phrase that has always stuck with me. He said worship is giving the Lord “our mind’s attention and our hearts affection.” That should be our drive when we come to worship.
Verses 5-8 - We express our devotion to Christ by finding true satisfaction in Him.
Verses 5-8 - We express our devotion to Christ by finding true satisfaction in Him.
I love how David puts these verses because we see that he is looking forward to a time when he will be satisfied in God again in Jerusalem; he points back to times God has helped him in the past; and he depends on the God who he knows he can cling to in the present. Past, present and future, David finds his satisfaction in God alone!
Today, we are hard to satisfy. We have much, but we always want a little more.
African mango tree story...
What if we, like David, looked at the ways God has blessed us in the past, looked around us to see how He is present with us today, and drew confidence that He will satisfy our needs in the future? Do we believe that?
Verses 9-11 - We express our devotion to Christ by trusting His provision regardless of our circumstances.
Verses 9-11 - We express our devotion to Christ by trusting His provision regardless of our circumstances.
Think again about David’s circumstances. At his time of greatest power, influence and authority, his own son leads a coup against him, forcing him from the city of Jerusalem.
In doing so, Absalom not only exiled him from his throne, home, and kingdom he built, but essentially cut him from corporate worship and sacrifice. Whats more, this was his own son! Talk about horrid circumstances!
And yet, he expresses here confidence that God will ultimately bring David’s enemies down and that he will have reason to rejoice again.
When I read David’s story, I often am reminded about my favorite words in the English language (not because they are my favorite words, but because I use them all the stinkin’ time!) Those words: Yeah, but...
David could have easily said, “Yeah, but what about…?” Why doesn’t he? Because he knew his God. His provision, His faithfulness, His willingness to bless His own, and His justice.
So the question comes to us, “Do I truly trust His provision, regardless of my circumstances?”
If you struggle in this area, I would suggest you send time reminding yourself of Christ’s provision for you in the past and what He’s doing for you right now. What then makes you think He would fail you in the future?
Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna, a city in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), in the 2nd century.
Sometime around 155-168 A.D., Polycarp was betrayed by people within his own family and was taken to the colosseum in Smyrna where the local proconsul attempted to force Polycarp to make sacrifices to Caesar.
The proconsul said, “Take the oath. I will let you go. Just revile Christ.”
Polycarp answered, “For eighty and six years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. And how can I now blaspheme my king who saved me?”
The proconsul threatened him further, but Polycarp responded: “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour at most; you must not know about the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. Why are you wasting time? Kill me in whatever way you see fit.”
Polycarp was then tied to a stake, covered with oil and they lit him on fire. However, the flames did not consume him. So, the guards stabbed him to death.
How long have you been His servant? Has He ever done you wrong? What makes you think He will in the future?
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