We Need To Patiently Wait Upon The Lord In Our Marriage

Ephesians 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.  31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

God wants us as husbands OR wives, to submit ourselves to our spouse.  Hey, can I just tell ya something?  It is NOT because they deserve it and NOT because it will make you feel good.  Instead, it is because you are committed to Christ and because you love Jesus!  And, of course, there's that issue of:  because God said so!

"Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart." 
~Psalm 37:4

It is one of my favorite verses.  But, look what comes next:  

4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.  5 Commit your way to the LORD, trust in him and he will do this: 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. 7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. 8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;  do not fret—it leads only to evil.  

~Psalm 37:4-8

We see a promise in verse 6.   It is based on a set of conditions from verse 5.  

Commit & Trust

And, how do I commit my ways to God and fully trust Him?  Verse 7 tells us the answer:  Be still and wait patiently and...do not fret.  Then in Verse 8, refrain from anger and wrath.  Then we are reminded once again:  Do not fret.

Hey, can I just tell ya something?  When Christian marriages fail, it is because one or both spouses have failed to trust and wait on the Lord.  AND since they’re unwilling to trust or wait on God, they let their anger and wrath get out of hand…Or they allow themselves to fret or worry, often taking matters into their own hands.

Look what verse 8 says about that: – “it leads only to evil.”

Now, by contrast, here’s what else God says:

14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.  15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 

~Psalm 91:14-15

Hey, can I just tell ya something?  If we’ll do things GOD’S way... If we’ll be still and patiently wait on the Lord - in faith...  Eventually, it WILL turn out OK.

It always comes back to that big 'O' word and it's not Oprah:  

Obedience

This entry is taken from the sermon: "Til Death Do Us Part".  Click the link to listen to the entire sermon.  This is the second sermon in a series.  The entire sermon series audio is available here:  

BLINDERS, BLINKERS, & WINKERS SERMON SERIES