Insights for a Better Mother’s Day Sermon by Bruce C. E. Fleming (Tru316.com)
One of the pastors who performed our wedding ceremony had a bad habit. On Mother’s Day he would invariably preach a sermon for fathers and not for mothers! To make things worse in those sermons he advocated attitudes and actions that demeaned women and limited them in the church and in the home. I felt so bad.
Here are some insights on Ephesians 5-6 he should have taught us about girls and women, and men too.
Verse 15. In the passage of Ephesians 5:15-6:9 Paul begins by tipping us off that he was going to give us important and detailed instructions how to live, or walk, the Christian life with these words, “Therefore walk very carefully ….”
Verse 18. Mothers and all women and girls in Christ, as well as men and boys, realize that the Holy Spirit is sent to you! We are to be continually bubbling over with the Spirit, as found in Ephesians 5:18b which says, “… be being filled with the Spirit.”
Verses 19-21. What kind of walking does Spirit filling produce? Paul tells us of two actions in the four-part pattern that comes next. First, he tells us how to care for “one another” in the first part of verse 19 (part A) and in verse 21 (part A’). Second, he tells us how to worship “the Lord” in the second part of verse 19 (part B) and in verse 20 (part B’).
The two “one another” sections are especially important. They apply to all believers, women and men, girls and boys. Verse 19a has a related verse in Colossians that adds a bit more detail. It says to “teach and correct one another” from Scripture, from psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Verse 21 says, in turn, to reciprocally submit to the teaching and correction we receive from and give to one another. This is mutual disciple building. It includes every believer. Notice that elsewhere the word “submit” may be used in a hierarchical and vertical way. Someone is over and someone us under. Here it is carefully defined by Paul in a reciprocal or horizontal way. No one is over or under. All are interacting on the same level. What do we learn? Women and men who are filled with the Spirit reciprocally build up one another!
We reciprocally submit to the teaching and correction we receive from and give to one another.
This is mutual disciple building.
Verse 22. What comes next are three verses, in another ABB’A’ pattern, that describe how a Christian couple is united in Christ. Verse 22 has no verb in the original Greek text. Paul doesn’t have to list one. When a verb is missing like this the reader simply fills in the verb used before it. Aha! This verb is the redefined horizontal activity of discipling one another.
In verse 22, when Paul says “wives … to your husbands” that is a shorthand way of saying “You, Spirit-filled wives and husbands, be reciprocally submitting to the teaching and correction you give to one another.” Then, in verse 23a and 23b, he uses a head-body metaphor that refers to how the head and the torso are united in one functioning, harmonious and healthy body.
In verse 23 he is pointing to the Christian couple and to Christ as being united this way. He also adds that this is possible through Christ who gave Himself as our Savior.
In these three verses, from 22-23a, 23b and 24, no one is denied full participation in the church. No one is relegated to second status in the home.
What encouragement and teaching is there for Christian mothers in Ephesians 5?
- Each woman in Christ is privileged, like each man in Christ, to receive the continuous filling of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18b).
- Each one is called first to build up one another (Ephesians 5:19a and 21) and second to worship the Lord (Ephesians 19b and 20).
- Christian wives and believing husbands exemplify this unity with Christ in the body (Ephesians 22-24).
These same ideas of unity in Christ and reciprocal upbuilding are continued throughout the whole passage all the way to the end. No one is denied full participation in the church. No one is relegated to second status in the home.
Ephesians 5:33 reminds believing husbands and wives to love one another (“love” as in Ephesians 5:25a and “respect” as in Ephesians 5:21b). There is no mention for the Christian couple of any submission and certainly not of obedience, which only applies in the case of children or servants (as in Ephesians 6:1-9).
Ephesians 6:1-4 continues the focus on believers, in this case believing children and parents, who reciprocally build up one another. Even verse 4 refers to “parents” not just fathers (compare Hebrews 11:23 which uses the same Greek word to refer to the “parents” of Moses).
Throughout, the main teaching of Ephesians 5-6, which is located in Ephesians 5:32, applies to mothers and all believers. We are assured of the astounding truth that we all are united with Christ!
Mothers! We honor you and we thank you for building us up and participating with us in the ministries of the church and the home!
