Gathering in Our Homes
In our busy lives, finding peace within our families can be challenging. As we gather today, remember that 'God loves you and gives you his peace.' Embracing our roles in the family structure allows us to reflect Christ's love and build stronger relationships.
Watch the full sermonFamily Dynamics
In the context of family dynamics, the Bible teaches us that 'Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives' (1 Peter 3:1-2). This passage emphasizes the importance of mutual respect and understanding in relationships. Just as a sports team thrives on unity, families flourish when they work together harmoniously, with God guiding them as their coach. When we embrace our roles within the family structure, we create a nurturing environment that reflects Christ's love.
Plan a VisitSubmission in Relationships
Submission in relationships is often misunderstood, yet it is a vital aspect of Christian teachings on marriage. Ephesians 5:21 reminds us to 'Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.' This mutual submission fosters a spirit of cooperation and love, allowing both partners to honor each other. As we navigate our family roles, we must remember that submission does not imply inferiority; rather, it is a demonstration of strength and commitment to one another.
Strength of Mothers
On this Mother's Day, we celebrate the strength of mothers who play a crucial role in nurturing families. They are not just caregivers but also the backbone of the Christian home. As we reflect on their contributions, we recognize that their love and guidance shape the next generation. Mothers embody the spirit of sacrifice and dedication, reminding us of the importance of family unity and the impact of a loving home.
God loves you and gives you his peace.
The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me.
Scripture Highlights
1 Peter 3:1-2: Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives.
Ephesians 5:21: Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
John 14:16: And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Bible say about submission in marriage?
How can families function like a sports team?
What is the significance of Mother's Day in this sermon?
Content Transcript
Greetings in the name and love of our Lord and Savior. Please be seated.
I’ll have to say, Madison, that your sharing of the epistle reading went very, very well. Such composure! We appreciate how God was moving through you, a young lady in the Lord, to bring those words. I wonder, as you were reading them, if you were drawn into a couple of the comments that were made there about women being submissive to their husbands and about husbands treating their wives properly as the weaker sex.
I’ll tell you, you got a much better reception among our members here at Emmanuel today than I received when I read those words at one of our senior living center devotions. I was over at Acute Center of Centerville, and it was Tuesday, Cinco de Mayo, and they were having Taco Tuesday. The place was rather raucous and ready for tacos and not for teachings from God’s word. I stepped up, and the activity director at that time said, “It’s ready to begin your devotional thoughts.”
So I said, “Let me read to you from First Peter chapter 3 these verses: ‘Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won over with a word by the conduct of their wives.’” And then I got to the next verse: “Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel.”
Oh, boo hiss! Boo hiss!
And I calmed him down a little bit and I said, “Now wait until I finish talking about these words of Holy Scripture. Let’s understand this is the word of God. The Apostle Peter is, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, inspired words are here, inherent words are here, infallible words are here. These words are clear and sufficient for their purposes in our lives, and they are effective for doing what God is sending them to do through the Apostle Peter. This is not a male chauvinistic, sexist section of the Bible. This is the word of the Lord. It’s the word of God.”
And one of the guys says, “Well, you can have whichever god you want to have.”
And I directed my attention to him and I said, “If there are multiple gods, there really is no God by very definition. You cannot have many gods. There’s only one true and triune God, and all the others are lowercase g’s. They’re just gods that people think are gods when they truly aren’t, and they can’t do a thing to save you, can’t do a thing to help you. They are not God at all.”
And he was rather quiet at that moment. Thanks be to God! I think he heard what I had to say about who God is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
**The Christian Home**
These words are the word of God to us about the Christian home. Gathering in homes, gathering in our homes, how is it that God wants a Christian home to be ordered and structured?
Well, let me just call attention to the word “likewise.” It appears a couple of times in this passage. Likewise, likewise, there are a couple different Greek words for “likewise.” One has to do with actions and works that you are, in a likewise manner, doing. The other one has to do with attitudes that you might have, and the one that has to do with attitudes is right here.
Likewise, likewise, the attitude of the heart will flow into the actions that are done. But let’s talk about the attitude of the heart. As you look in First Peter chapter 3, you’re going to find not only does it say wives are to be subject, but it points out very clearly that citizens in a country have got to be subjected to the leaders, to the government authorities.
So when people are not subject to and submissive to, and they are, as citizens, bucking the authority that God has placed in that country, we know there’s going to be issues. No authority is in place without God allowing it to be there. That’s what Peter says here in First Peter chapter 3.
He also says, “Now servants, be subject to your masters.” Now let’s put that into contemporary terms: employees, be subject to your employers. So if a person is not subjecting themselves, you see, this is a term that is taken right out of military context in the day of the Apostle Peter. It’s a term that is saying there are commanding officers in the army, and the soldiers have to be subjected to the commanding officers.
There’s an ordering in terms of the army, and so it’s a voluntary surrendering and submitting and subjecting to the authority of the officers. The officers are not better than the soldiers; they are equal to those beneath them as individuals. However, they’re in a position that is important in the army.
So governments and armies and workplaces, and yes, in our homes, there needs to be an ordering. There needs to be an understanding of what God is intending to accomplish here in terms of a subjecting and surrendering and submitting in the home.
But let’s be clear about something: you don’t just take First Peter 3 here and interpret this passage alone. You interpret it in the light of the other scriptures that are talking about a similar thing. Submission, in Ephesians 5:21, Paul says that we should be mutually submitted to one another out of reverence for God.
So submission is not just for the women; it’s for the men. It’s not just for the wives; it’s for the husbands as well, that we are mutually submitted to each other. It’s a voluntary submitting, a decision to voluntarily submit and surrender.
And you know what? Jesus Christ, second person of the Holy Trinity, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, submitted himself to his earthly parents when he was born into this world. He was submissive to Mary and Joseph. Not only was he submissive to Mary and Joseph, but he would be very submissive to the Father and the Spirit.
Jesus was sub... did that make him inferior or less than? No, because the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal and indivisible. They are one. You cannot separate the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, true and triune God that they are.
I was talking with someone, illustrating the Trinity with my hands and making a makeshift triangle. I said, “Now listen, when Jesus Christ was incarnate, when he came in human flesh, the second person of the Holy Trinity entered into our world. As he came, he and the Father and the Holy Spirit were yet one, not divided. They are never divided; they’re always the one holy, true, and triune God.”
And so when Jesus came and lived and died and he rose again and he ascended into heaven, when he ascended into heaven and the Father and the Son said, “We’re going to have the Holy Spirit proceed from us and dwell in the hearts of...” as we are temples of the Holy Spirit, you don’t simply have the Holy Spirit in you.
For Jesus said, “The Father and I will make our home in your hearts.” You don’t have a division between the Trinity, even though we see the Father and the Son referenced as Jesus is at the right hand of God. He’s in a place of authority and power, but he’s in your hearts as well.
We are temples of the Spirit, and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are making your heart their home. Isn’t that amazing that God is choosing to be in and among us in such a precious, powerful, personal way? Right wherever you go, the Lord is with you. You’re never separated from him.
I will never leave you nor forsake you until the end of the ages. We know the scriptures are clear in this regard.
**The Role of the Husband and Wife**
So likewise, be subject. I look at it like this: the husband, the father, is a covering for his wife and children. And so as the covering is there, if you are not in a marriage relationship as man or woman and you are a single individual, God has ways of supernaturally, according to the scriptures, providing his protection and care for those who are widows and widowers and those who are singles who have never...
But otherwise, God chooses in his divine plan to provide a covering for the wife and the children from their husband. So when a child says, “I’m not going to listen to you, mom and dad. I’m not going to obey you, mom and dad,” what do they do? They step out from underneath the covering and they put themselves in a position where, as you think of an umbrella, an umbrella keeps us covered.
But when you step outside of it, you’re going to get rained on. There are going to be consequences that may flow when you reject the covering of moms and dads.
And on this Mother’s Day, I’m so thankful that my mother was not a weak vessel. She may have been a weaker vessel to my dad, my dad, Bobby Robert Leverne Carlson, a good strong Norwegian boy. Dad was a good strong Norwegian boy, and he was a provider and a protector and the priest of our home.
But my mother was not a weak vessel. She possessed a lot of strength. She gave birth to four children. Enough said! You know, you can’t be weak if you’re giving birth to four kids. You’ve got to be strong.
And women are the weaker physically as compared to the man, but that’s where it stops. Women are not weaker in other areas; they’re rather strong, aren’t they? And they have some strength that God provides them.
Husbands are to treat their wives properly. And you know, if we don’t love our wives and honor our wives and cherish our wives, these words are spoken directly to husbands: “Likewise, husbands.”
So as Jesus surrendered, as Jesus subjected and submitted, aren’t you glad he did? Because you wouldn’t have a Savior if he hadn’t. Because Jesus was submitted to the Father’s will, he said, “Not my will, but yours be done.” And he died for your sins and mine, and we have forgiveness through Jesus.
And so as you are thinking about the importance of us gathering in a place of worship like this or gathering in our homes in Christ, I was thinking about this just a moment ago.
If you’re from Bellbrook, raise your hand. If you live in Bellbrook, okay. How about those of you who live in Kettering? Raise your hands. How about those of you who live in Miamisburg? Raise your hands. Our one and only... no, two outposts over that way in Miami. Three, three over that way. How about over in Xenia? Do you have anybody? Okay, Xenia.
And then we look a little bit further, and we might go up to Huber Heights or Fairborn, up that way. So every single one of our homes takes our reach as a church into all these different regions.
And you are models and examples. And when people, hopefully, are looking and seeing you, they’re looking and seeing a Christian home where Christ is exalted and Christ is lifted up and Christ is lived out in your home lives.
So every one of our Christian homes are vitally important. As the Bible tells us, the way husbands love their wives is a model of how Jesus loved the church.
We don’t do it perfectly. Separations, divorces, we see, also, of course, death enter the picture. And we know that sin is a great separator. Our first parents are Adam and Eve. Before we get to Abraham and Sarah, Adam and Eve, and we need to understand who we are as the children of... who are of Adam and Eve, the mother of all the living, her name.
And she and Adam sinned, and when they sinned, they brought death into this world, and sin and death and separation occurred. And all of those who are children who are in the sea of humanity are with the effects of original sin.
And that original sin is what causes a sinful nature for us. We’ve said this before, and the catechetical instructors have said this to the youth: “Okay, am I a sinner because I sin, or am I a sinner who sins?”
We are all sinners, and we sin. It’s not committing a sin that makes you a sinner, although that is true too. But we see the importance of understanding that you have a sinful nature, and the power of sin dwells in these mortal bodies, leading us in a concupiscence, as a fancy word, to have a propensity towards evil.
And we are spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins, and the only way we are saved and we are justified is through the covering God provides us of the blood of Jesus.
Adam and Eve tried to get some coverings for themselves. They took the fig leaves, and they tried to cover themselves, and those shriveled up fig leaves were not going to stay. And God took an animal and he sacrificed it, and he took the skin and he covered them.
So the Hebrew for forgiveness is there in that covering. God has provided a covering for us in Jesus and his blood shed for us because he surrendered himself and died for us. What a beautiful expression of God’s grace and love and mercy is ours in Jesus Christ!
And he submitted, surrendered, and we need to respond, of course, with surrendering and submitting of our own, allowing God to cover us and carry us and hold us close to himself as we go through this life, always knowing how desperately we need Jesus.
So likewise, likewise, have the attitude that was in Christ Jesus, who did not count equality with God as something to be grasped, but he emptied himself and he took on human nature and he suffered and died and rose again for our forgiveness, life, and salvation that is ours.
So we are responding with our worship and our praise, and we’re going to, at this time, be offering up our offerings to the Lord.
I extend to you the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ that passes all understanding, that it would be ours in Christ Jesus. And in their respective areas, as you are helping our ushering team out, please begin to assist in receiving the offerings.
Youth and children and teens, whoever has been brought into this gathering of offerings, all the Christ in his and guide us with free us.
Oh Lord, we do thank you that we have the means by which we can respond with our offerings. We are with faith in our hearts to believe and to live out a life of obedience before you, and we are obeying because we’re believing, and we are, as we are responding to your goodness and your gifts, bringing our gifts.