The Book of Ephesians: "Blessings Of Obedience" - Ephesians 5:20-33

What is God’s standard for marriage and the family? We have been fed all sorts of illusions about reality from the entertainment industry, so much so, that people try and make fantasy a reality. The perfect body, the perfect romance, the perfect lifestyle, the perfect relationship, husband, wife…but is there such a thing? Fantasy will always fall short of our expectations. Marriage is the capstone of the family, and the building block of human civilization. When marriage fails, the whole family falls apart; when the family fails, the whole society suffers. Of course, this is evidenced by the stories of societal suffering filling the headlines every day. In today’s text, we will be studying God’s standard for marriage and the family. God designed marriage, and when He designs a thing (like marriage), He designs it for His glory and our good. In fact, Paul describes the marriage union in verse 32 as a mystery, because its deepest meaning has been partially concealed, but now is openly revealed by the apostle, namely, that marriage is an image of Christ and the church. As we study the roles of the husband, and the wife in marriage it is important to understand that they are not arbitrarily assigned, and they are not reversible without obscuring God’s purpose for marriage. The roles of husband and wife are rooted in the distinctive roles of Christ and his church. God means (by marriage) to say something about his Son and his church by the way husbands and wives relate to each other.  Obedience always brings God's blessings!