Eph. 5:21-33, 6:4
The Feminist Movement tried to sell America on the idea that there was no difference between a man and a woman. But the stubborn facts of biology refuse to go away.
It is encouraging in recent years, as there has been a renewed emphasis on manhood and responsibility. Yet, a lot of folks in American culture have never been taught. They have never had an example in their home. We need some godly men who can help other men become the men they ought to be for the glory of God. The bible calls men to love, lead and lift their families.
I. LOVE YOUR FAMILY
You are supposed to love your family. There are some illustrations given to us in Ephesians 5 which tell a man how he loves his family. Three times in these verses, it tells a man to love his wife. Verse 25 says, “Husbands love your wives.” Verse 28 says, “So ought men to love their wives as their bodies.” Verse 33 says, “Nevertheless, let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself.”
It explains how in verse 25, “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church.” Men, love your family like Jesus loved the church. How did Jesus love the church? It is selfless, sacrificial love. He loves us so much that He was willing to sacrifice His very life on the cross of Calvary.
Not only is the man to love his family like Jesus loved the church. In verse 28, it says to love as you love your bodies. The man is to love the members of his family as he loves his own body. He is to nourish, cherish it and take care of it.
There are some applications of how a man is to love his family. 1 Pet. 3:7 says, “dwell with them according to knowledge.” That means that there must be some comprehension on the part of the father. Every member of your family is distinct. Study them well and learn to dwell with them according to knowledge.
We are to comprehend the truth that every family member is vitally important and deserves to be loved, nurtured, cared for, and honored. Men, love your families!
II. LEAD YOUR FAMILY
As a father, you are the spiritual leader of the family. You are the one who sets the pace in your family. What is involved in a man being the leader of his family? Leadership rides on some other ships.
The ship that is what I call Lordship. Look at Eph. 5:20, 22. These verses speak of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Listen! You cannot exercise authority unless you are under authority. If a man is going to exercise leadership in his family, he must understand the Bible principle of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Every man needs to get dedicated to Jesus Christ as Lord of his life. You can’t lead your family to the Lordship of Jesus Christ unless you are under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The second ship is Partnership. Eph. 5:21 says, “Submitting yourselves one to another in fear of God.” Family is a partnership between that husband and that wife.
There are a million children born in America every year out of wedlock? Of those children born out of wedlock, by the age of 13, they are 60 percent more apt to be into crime, drugs, and illiteracy, etc. Marriage is a partnership. God wants children to have a mother, and a father committed to the Partnership of making that marriage work. It’s a partnership.
The third ship is Headship. Eph. 5:23 says, “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church and the Savior of the body.” That means that the man is the source of protection and provision in his family. “But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Tim. 5:8.
Don’t bring anything in that would be unwholesome. The spiritual nurture and development of your children are your responsibility, dads.
III. LIFT YOUR FAMILY
Eph. 5: 25-27. It says husbands love your wife “as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of the water by the word.” Watch this. “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
See how Christ lifts the church. That’s the way you are to raise your family. You should want your children to be all that God wants them to be.
Eph. 6:4 – “nurture” – “The education of the mind and the morals” – They are trained in the ways of God; “admonition” – “exhortation” – They are led in the will of God.
It is a good thing to help your children get an education, become financially secure. But, if those things are all you give them, you have failed them! Sir, give them a spiritual heritage. Being a father could be tough. But it is lovely and fulfilling.
CONCLUSION
Men, it all starts in the family. If your faith doesn’t work at home, it doesn’t work anywhere. The family is either like a dune or a sculpture. A sand dune has no shape or design to it. It comes about by whatever environmental forces play upon it. It has no real foundation. Tomorrow’s wind will change the body and the look of the dune. But a sculpture has a design. There is intention. There is a goal. There is a purpose.
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