Changing Roles

• Changing Roles
• God’s Special Promise to Single Parents
• Psalm 68:5-6
– 5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation.
– 6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.
• Psalm 146:9

• God’s Ideal – A Family with Father and Mother
• Deut 25:5
– 5 "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not be married to a stranger outside the family; her husband's brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.

• Marriage is the focus of the Home in the Bible
• Today’s families tend to be child-centered
• God’s design is a Christ-centered marriage
• Marriage is the focus of the Home in the Bible
• Both passages where Paul addresses the family deal with marriage first, then children
– Ephesians 5:22 – 6:4
– Colossians 3:18-21
• God Has Established Authority to Provide Order
• Romans 13:1-2
– 1 Let every soul be subject to the governing author-ities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God..
• 1 Peter 2:13-17
• Roles Do Not imply Inferiority
• 1 Corinthians 11:3
– 3 But I want you to know that …
• the head of every man is Christ,
• the head of woman is man,
• and the head of Christ is God.
• Galatians 3:28
– 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
• Guiding Principle: mutual submission in christ
• Ephesians 5:18-20
– 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,21 submitting to one another in the fear of God.
• Guiding Principle: mutual submission in christ
• Ephesians 5:18-20
– All Christians are to maintain an attitude of mutual submission to the will of God
– This requires that we submit to each other by treating each other as God instructs
• How submission works in the family
– All submit to the will of Christ and God
– Husband submits in love to wife
– Wife submits to husband as to Christ
– Children submit to parents
– Parents submit to children’s needs

• Guiding Principle: mutual submission in christ

• Individual Roles by Which We Honor Christ
• Husbands - love your wives
• Wives – submit to your husbands
• Fathers – lead your family spiritually
• Mothers – love your children
• Children – obey and honor your parents
• The Husband’s Role
• Ephesians 5:23-24
• The Husband’s Role
• Ephesians 5:25-29
• The Husband’s Role
• A Husband’s Two Responsibilities
– Head of Wife, as Christ is head of the Church
(Position of Leadership)
– Love your wife, as Christ loved the Church
(Responsibility of Leadership)

• Love Your Wives
• The Way You are to Love Your Wives
– Lead them in the way Christ leads the Church
• A Servant leader


• Love Your Wives
• Sacrificial love – lay down life to meet her needs
– 1 Pet 3:7 - Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
• Some needs wives consistently express
– Companionship – share feelings with
– Security – feel safe and provided for
– Significance – feel valued and treasured
• Her Spiritual Leader
• 1 Corinthians 14:35
– 35 And if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is shameful for women to speak in church.
• Eph 6:4
– 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
• Instructions to Husbands
• Love your wives as Christ loved the church
• Cherish them
• Honor them
• Protect them
• Serve them
• Lead them
• The Wife’s Role
• Ephesians 5:22-24, 32-33
• The Wife’s Role
• Submit to your own husband, as to the Lord
– In greater context of mutual submission (v 21)
– How she shows her submission to Christ

• The Wife’s Role
• A Wife’s Two Responsibilities
– Helper – as designed in the beginning (Gen 2:18-22)
(Role of Strength and Honor)


• The Wife’s Role
• A Wife’s Two Responsibilities
– Husband-lover – Titus 2:4
(Relationship of Admiration)


• The Wife’s Role
• Submission to own husband as fitting in the Lord
• Help him succeed as a man of God
• Be a husband-lover
• The Wife’s Role
• Submission to own husband as fitting in the Lord
• Help him succeed as a man of God
• Be a husband-lover