Ephesians 5:22-24

Yielding Up Your Rights

Introduction

1. Be controlled by the Holy Spirit (5:18) is the key to everything that follows.

2. You cannot and you will not submit (yield up your rights in love) unless you are controlled

by the Holy Spirit.

3. Are you willing to yield up your rights to Jesus Christ?

4. Submission is a key to Ephesians 5:22-24. It is a picture of Christ and the Church.

Are you willing to yield up your rights to Jesus Christ? This will never happen until:

I. I MUST SEE HIM AS MY SOVEREIGN 5:22

As to the Lord

  1. Submit Personally wives (submit) yourselves
  1. The wife is a picture or illustration of the bride (the church) and the husband illustrates Jesus Christ.
  2. Submit is not found in the original texts, but is carried over from v. 21. It does not mean obey, although that is an essential part of serving Jesus Christ. It means, to yield you your right in love. This applies to all family members as noted in (5:22-6:9).
  3. Yourselves all that is called “you”. (Romans 12:1, 2) Present your bodies a living sacrifice. God wants you! It doesn’t just ask for your habits, money, time, etc. If He has you, He has everything!
  1. Submit Possessively unto you own husband
  1. Jesus Christ belongs to me. He is my Protector, my Provider, my Peace, my Propitiation (satisfaction).
  2. I belong to Him. There is nothing I withhold. There is nothing I call “mine”. All that I have is a loan from Him.
  1. Submit As Partners own husbands
  1. This is my partner until death do us part. In the earthly pictures, husbands and wives fail and divorce follows. You may find yourself alone.
  2. Jesus said, I will never ever leave you or forsake you. He comforts me. He builds me up. He draws me close. He gives me strength. He is my closest friend. He is always there to listen.
  1. Submit Powerfully as to the Lord
  1. I must see Him as my sovereign. He is Lord!
  2. A wife yielding up her rights to her husband is a present to the Lord!
  3. He (Jesus Christ) has a right to ask me anything. He can do to me and with me anything He wants. That is the secret of rest!

Are you willing to yield up your rights to Jesus Christ? This will never happen until:

II. I MUST SEE HIM AS MY SUPERINTENDENT 5:23a

I run everything past him. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the

Church…

  1. He Is The Director the husband is the head
  1. If a body responds to the head, it is not degrading. If the body does not respond there are real problems.
  2. A home without a head is an invitation to chaos. God in His providence assigned to the husband the task of being the head of the wife and family. The tragedy is when the husband is not fit or does not take the responsibility of leading.
  1. He Is The Direction as Christ is the head of the church
  1. Jesus Christ is my life. He is my director and He is my direction. All orders are to come from headquarters.
  2. He gives you desires. He opens doors. He shuts them. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. No two are alike. I need to stay in touch with Him through the Word, prayer and Christian fellowship. These are essential for directions.
  3. 5:18… we must continually be controlled by the Holy Spirit.

Are you willing to yield up your rights to Jesus Christ? This will never happen until:

III. I MUST SEE HIM AS MY SAVIOR 5:23b

He died for me and set me free. He lives to live in me. He is the Savior of the body.

  1. Our Sovereign He
  1. There is only One. There can be no other…He.
  2. The Messiah…the conquering King…the Creator of the universe…the One who holds everything together…He.
  1. Our Savior Savior
  1. Savior in the New Testament is never used of anyone except of Christ or God.
  2. Jesus Christ came to save us from ourselves and from sin!
  1. Our Sufficiency Savior of the Body
  1. The husband is to be the protector of his wife, but nothing on the scale of Jesus Christ.
  2. The husband is deeply concerned for his wife’s welfare. Jesus gave Himself up on behalf of the church. He died! Death is involved, flowing from a heart of love. For God so loved the world that He gave…
  3. Husbands to love, cherish, protect and provide…you must die! You must die to your wishes, your way, your rights.
  4. Philippians 2:4-8 Let this mind be in you…He did not grasp…He humbled himself…He died for us. Yielding up your rights in love…I must see Him as my Savior.Walk that road of death…ultimately the road of life!

Are you willing to yield up your rights to Jesus Christ? This will never happen until:

IV. I MUST SEE HIM AS MY SUPERIOR 5:24

This isn’t just a onetime thing…In Everything!

  1. Submit Thoughtfully Therefore
  1. It is logical to yield up my rights to one who is my Sovereign…my Superintendent and my Savior. This is the One who gave His life for me.
  2. In light of who He is and what He’s done…Let go!
  1. Submit Tenderly as the church is subject to Christ
  1. The Word subject is the same word as submit.
  2. The church is subject to Christ. Yielding should be voluntary, whole hearted, sincere, enthusiastic.
  3. It is thought to be a given. It is unnatural not to give up your rights. Christianity is not natural. It is supernatural. Powered by the Holy Spirit!
  1. Submit Totally In everything
  1. He is my Superior in everything! There may be some exceptions in the home because a husband may ask the wife to do something that violates God’s word or her conscience.
  2. With Jesus Christ there is not an event, activity, time, pleasure or desire that I do not make subject to Him.
  3. Give them all…Give them all…Give them all to Jesus. Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken toys…He will turn your sorrows into joy.
  1. Submit Teachably so let wives be to their husbands
  1. In the home it’s a battle of the wills. This is a sure way to end conflict.
  2. It’s a day by day, moment by moment battle. It is never easy or automatic, because two wills are involved.
  3. What’s going on in my life right now is an indication of my walk with God. I cannot be controlled by the Holy Spirit and not yield up my rights to my wife or my husband.
  4. Jesus in me is visible most right where I live! When change is made, it will first be seen at home.

Are you willing to give up your rights to Jesus Christ?

Submit: I yield up my rights in love.

Are you controlled by the Holy Spirit? Let me see you home.