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Subject 19 : The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the EPHESIANS
[Chapter 5-7] The Relationship between God and His Church (Ephesians 5:22-33)
(Ephesians 5:22-33)
“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”
A brother and a sister in God’s Church, both of whom are ministry workers, will get married tomorrow, and I will be presiding over the wedding ceremony. Usually, when a wedding takes place inside a church building, I feel comfortable enough to speak of spiritual issues, but since tomorrow’s wedding will take place in a wedding hall with many non-believers present, I am not sure if I would be able to raise spiritual issues while presiding over that ceremony. Non-Christians often react rather badly when spiritual issues are addressed. So it’s likely that I would have to keep my wedding sermon short and simple.
But today I would like to share the Word of God regarding His Church with all of you gathered here. The topic of my sermon for today is what the Word of God says about marriage, and it’s mostly men who would be pleased to hear this topic. It’s written in Ephesians 5:22, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” I am sure that many of our brothers here are happy to just hear this passage. Even unmarried brothers are probably quite pleased to hear it, thinking that when they get married with a sister in God’s Church, this is how their wives would treat them. Our brothers who are already married may also think that their wives should treat them better once their wives listen to today’s sermon.
But these thoughts that you may have are in vain. Your wife may or may not submit to you. After all, the Bible does not say that only wives should submit to their husbands. There also are the Lord’s commandments for the husbands. Our Lord’s commandments apply equally to both husbands and wives.
In fact, every passage in the Epistle to the Ephesians is what the Lord, the Head of God’s Church spoke to its members. You need to realize here that this passage about the proper attitude of the wives towards their husbands also means that God’s Church must submit to Jesus Christ. Unless God’s Church submits to Jesus Christ, it cannot receive God’s love. Such a church is not a church that’s loved by God.
When the Apostle Paul Spoke about the Wives, He Was Actually Speaking about God’s Church on This Earth
What the Apostle Paul said here in the Epistle to the Ephesians is not about the moral obligations and ethical norms governing the relationship between a husband and a wife, but it is about the relationship between Christ and God’s Church. God’s Church must submit to the will of Jesus Christ. This is only a matter of course. That’s because the Bible clearly says, “For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body” (Ephesians 5:23). In other words, because Jesus Christ is the Head of God’s Church, as the members of the Church, you and I must obey the will of Jesus Christ just as the body moves according to the commandments of the head.
Jesus Christ is the Head of God’s Church and we are His body. So, just as the husband is the wife’s head, Jesus Christ is the Head of God’s Church. It’s very important for you to realize here that Paul is speaking about God’s Church, the body of Christ. Paul used the relationship between a husband and a wife to explain the relationship between Christ and God’s Church, so as to ensure that the saints in his days would not misunderstand his spiritual message.
Jesus Christ is the Head of God’s Church, and the Church is His body. The Apostle Paul also addressed the wives collectively, and he did this because the body of Jesus Christ has many members. That’s why Paul used the plural word “wives,” saying to them, “Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5:24). This passage means that just as God’s Church must submit to Christ, the wives must also submit to their husbands. In some ways it may seem as though the Apostle Paul had a sexist notion, but he was actually speaking about the supremacy of the will of Jesus Christ, our Head.
In Israel during the age of the Old Testament, women and children were not included in any census, far less counted in the army. Afterwards, when Jesus came to this earth as the Savior, women began to be treated equally as men. So we see in the Bible that sometimes the names of sisters in the righteousness of Christ were recorded before brothers. But this was not the case in ancient Judaism. Sexism was quite prevalent in Judaism as in Confucianism.
But the Bible does not say that women should literally submit to their husbands and live in oppression. Since we all believe in the righteousness of the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we have all equally become God’s people. Just as it’s written here in today’s Scripture passage, for a husband to be served by his wife, there is a certain precondition that he must meet. It is that the husband must love his wife just as Jesus loves us. It is only then that a married couple can find true love. When the husband treats his wife with love, the wife should also submit to her husband in love. But any husband who does not treat his wife well should not even think that she would submit to him.
The Apostle Paul’s Admonishment to Husbands
The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”
How should husbands treat their wives? Paul told them to love their wives just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up for it. This means that every husband ought to love his wife even unto self-sacrifice just as Jesus Christ gave Himself up for the Church. The Apostle Paul made it clear here that every husband should love his wife not only spiritually, but in both body and soul.
What did Jesus Christ say to all of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? We can find the answer when we turn to Ephesians 5:26-27 here: “That He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” Jesus Christ is our Groom and we are His brides, and He has washed away all our blemishes and sins with the baptism that He received from John the Baptist on this earth. When the heavenly Groom came to this earth, He was baptized by John the Baptist, the representative of all mankind, and thereby accepted at once all the sins of His people who would become His brides; and He has cleansed His brides once and for all by being condemned on the Cross of suffering in their place. In other words, by bearing all the sins of His brides and washing them away through the baptism He received from John the Baptist, the Lord has cleansed them from all their sins and transgressions.
Jesus has cleansed us with His Word. Having written His work of salvation that has blotted out all our sins in the Word of God to be preached to each and every generation to come, the Lord has made it possible for us to believe in this work and thereby cleanse our hearts from all our sins. Put differently, the Lord has at once cleansed all of us who believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit and saved us from all our sins. Like this, the Lord has made us sinless and holy through the gospel of the water and the Spirit. And He has presented us to Himself as a glorious Church, made holy without any spot or wrinkle.
Jesus Christ Came to This Earth for All Who Would Become His Brides
What did Jesus do for His brides? The Lord Himself bore all the sins of His brides by being baptized by John the Baptist, and He cleansed them all by being crucified to death and rising from the dead.
The Apostle Paul said here in today’s Scripture reading that Jesus has washed away all our sins with water. This means that Paul’s faith was the same as ours; he believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit just like us. The Apostle Paul preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit throughout all his Epistles and spoke of true salvation. In explaining how our sins have disappeared, he said that Jesus has washed them away with water. Each and every sin of all who would become Jesus Christ’s brides was washed away with the baptism that the Lord received from John the Baptist. Because Jesus has washed away all our sins by being baptized by John the Baptist on this earth, and because He bore the condemnation of each and every sin on the Cross once and for all, for those of us who believe in this Truth, all our sins have disappeared. Since our sins were passed onto Jesus through His baptism, all of us who believe in this Truth have become sinless. The Lord then had this Truth written in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit so that it would be preached to you and me now. Jesus Christ the Son of God has cleansed away all our sins with His baptism. It is when you listen to the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit and believe in this Word of God that you are cleansed once and for all. It is when you hear and believe in the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit fulfilled by God Himself that all your heart’s sins are washed away.
Is there anything else that you have to do to receive remission of sins other than believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit? Do you have to believe in something more for your sins to be blotted out? No, that is not the case. But some Christians think that they can be cleansed only if they warm up their hearts and fervently shout out the name of the Lord in tears countless times. But this kind of faith is neither rational nor spiritual, but only superstitious. Nonetheless, many Christians all around the world still brag about speaking in tongues or exercising supernatural powers to heal the sick, but even such people cannot be saved from their sins unless they understand and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. That’s why I describe these misguided Christians as nothing more than a gathering of witches. They are nothing more than witches who happen to profess to believe in Jesus.
Recently in Korea, Pentecostals held a huge revival meeting in a big stadium that was broadcast live on a Christian TV channel. With their leaders, ministers, and laymen all gathered together, they worshipped God and prayed to Him, and most of the people gathered there spoke in tongues. The whole revival meeting turned into a scene of wild excitement in no time.
But was such a display of religious fervor really of the Holy Spirit? During the era of the Early Church, speaking in tongues meant speaking in various languages that were actually used and understood in those days (Acts 2:6-11). But when today’s Pentecostals speak in tongues; they say incomprehensible things that are clearly not spoken by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the vast majority of them are artificially trained to speak in tongues. They gather together those who can’t speak in tongues and drill them to say “Hallelujahs” repeatedly and faster over and over again, and eventually, the trainees end up uttering nonsense that’s not comprehensible to anyone in this world. Is this what it really means to speak in tongues? Does such a contrived gimmick enable anyone to be really cleansed from all his sins? No, of course not!
But my intention at this hour is not just to criticize the Pentecostals for speaking in tongues, but to emphasize that God has cleansed us His believers from all the sins of the world by washing us with the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit. This is what the Lord said to all of us. Jesus Christ our Groom has washed away all our sins once and for all with the Word of the water and the Spirit. This is what we ought to confess whenever we worship God. By being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus bore all our sins and washed them all way once and for all. Through the gospel Word of the water and the Spirit, Jesus took upon all your heart’s sins and mine once and for all, and He has at once fulfilled all the righteousness of God.
Given the fact that all our sins were passed onto Jesus’ head; do we the believers still have any sin? No, we have no more sin. Therefore, whenever we worship God or pray to Him, we must confess that God has made us holy and completely sinless. When the Bible says here that God the Father has made us holy, it means that He has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the hearts of all of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. This is the truly holy work of the water and the Spirit. That God has blotted out all our sins with the gospel of the water and the Spirit is the holiest work of God. Only when our hearts are indwelt by the Spirit of God have we truly become holy. The Lord has made us holy and turned us into His flawlessly prefect brides without any spot or wrinkle or any such thing in God’s sight. Jesus Christ our spiritual Groom has made us His brides once and for all. And having gone to the Kingdom of Heaven before us, He will come back to take us away soon.
It is therefore absolutely imperative for everyone to become holy by wholeheartedly believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, the wedding wardrobe. Only such people have put on the wedding wardrobe to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who have received the Holy Spirit into their hearts by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are invited to the feast of Heaven and the Lord will take them to His Kingdom, but those who have not done so yet will be forever cast out of Heaven. This is what the Lord said to us in the Gospel of Matthew 22:1-14.
The Matrimonial Relationship in Carnal Terms
For a husband to love his wife dearly is to love himself. That’s because a husband and a wife are one body, and therefore to love your wife is to love yourself. If you love yourself, then you would also love your wife dearly, for she is your own body. I am sure that our married sisters here understand this quite well. So, if we really love the righteousness of the Lord dearly, then we will be loved dearly in return, but if we love the Lord halfheartedly, then we will also be loved halfheartedly.
It’s written in Ephesians 5:29-30: “No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.”
In speaking of the mystery of the Church, the Apostle Paul said here that the wives should submit to their husbands, and that the wives who cherish and serve their husbands will be loved dearly in return by their husbands. Verse 29 says that no one ever hates his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it. Just as everyone nourishes, protects and cherishes his own body to keep it in good shape, so does Jesus Christ also nourish God’s Church. God’s Church is the body of the Lord. That is why the Lord nourishes and protects all of us who are the members of the Church, His body. The Lord protects the members of His body and provides for all their needs.
That is how God’s Church is able to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit all over the world. And that is how we can run our businesses diligently and successfully to support the gospel ministry. Wherever the saints who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are gathered together is God’s Church, I have every confidence that God holds this Church steadfastly, helps it in all its endeavors, blesses it and protects it. Just as we cherish and nourish our own bodies, so does Jesus Christ nourish His Church and provides for all its needs as His own body.
The same principle applies to every matrimonial relationship also even in carnal terms. If a wife understands her husband well and respects him, then she would also be loved dearly and respected by her husband. But if the wife shows no respect to her husband and tramples on his authority, then she would also be treated in the same way by her husband. God’s Church must be faithful to Jesus Christ and love Him just as He is faithful to God’s Church and loves it. To emphasize once more, we must submit to the Jesus Christ. This is the Truth that the Bible is teaching us.
As the members of the Church, the body of Jesus Christ, obedience is absolutely indispensable in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Why is this so? That’s because Jesus Christ has saved us by being baptized for us, bearing all our condemnation on the Cross and rising from the dead. And with this Word of salvation, He has cleansed our heart and glorified us, and He is nourishing us and protecting us faithfully so that we would lack nothing. That is the reason why we must all submit to Jesus Christ. If the Church ignores the will of Jesus Christ or opposes it rather than obeying it as His bride, then it will not be glorified by the Lord no matter how it is connected to His body. I would like to emphasize this point when I preside over tomorrow’s wedding. Every husband ought to love and cherish his wife, for only then can he expect to be treated with respect by his wife. Likewise, every wife should cherish her husband and obey him, for only then can she receive the same treatment from her husband.
There is no one who does not take good care of his own body to nourish and strengthen it. After all, no one hates his own body. If there is anyone who hates his own body, then this is someone who has sin in his heart. Don’t women want to make themselves look pretty? Likewise, Jesus Christ also wants to nourish and take care of God’s Church, His own body. Therefore what God’s Church must do to Jesus Christ is to submit to Him by faith. It’s absolutely critical for all of us to grasp this. If a wife looks down on her husband, then she would not only be looked down by her husband but by others also. This is an absolutely unchanging principle. Every husband should also treat his wife well if he wants to be loved by her. If you love your wife, then you will also be loved in return. It’s an elementary principle. The problem, however, is that there are some people even among Christians who show no respect at all to their spouses.
If your husband is serving the gospel of the water and the Spirit, you should never look down on his shortcomings. It’s written here in today’s Scripture reading that for a husband to love his wife is to love himself. For you to submit to the will of God above all else, sometimes you may find yourself in disagreement with your spouse and perhaps even quarrel with him. That’s because it would be wrong for both you and your spouse to go astray. So, to ensure that your marriage is upright before God and to obey His will above else, sometimes you may disagree with your spouse. But even so, you and your spouse ought to cherish and love one another in submission.
I have heard that nowadays, there are some wives who even beat up their husbands. Such women can never be respected. Have you ever been violent towards you husband by any chance in word or deed? Some women despise their husbands from the depths of their hearts when their husbands fail to provide for them. And some women hate it when their husbands are spiritually minded. Such women should not even dream of being respected. It’s impossible for anyone to respect them.
The Apostle Paul used the proper marital relationship to explain our relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s very important for us to realize the truth that’s taught here in Ephesians chapter 5. If God’s Church does not submit to the will of God, and instead seeks after only carnal pleasures as though it were a secular social club, then it cannot receive God’s love. It cannot expect to be helped by God nor nourished by Him. This is an absolutely undeniable truth. It’s only when we obey the will of Jesus Christ first as the members of God’s Church that God bestows His grace on us in all things. If we otherwise do not submit to the will of Jesus Christ and do everything on our own, then the Lord will never be pleased with us. Just as the Lord said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33), if we honor the Lord, He will also honor us. If we abhor or ignore the Lord, then He will abhor and ignore us also. This is a self-evident truth. Even though we have become God’s people, we can put on the Lord’s love only if we obey His will above all else.
All of Us Must Learn the Will of God Spiritually
If you and I ignore Jesus Christ, then He will also ignore us. If you and I obey the Word of Jesus Christ absolutely, honor Him, love Him, and respect Him, then Jesus Christ will also love us, nourish us, bless us, and protect us. So what the Apostle Paul said here in the Epistle to the Ephesians is all true. Everything spoken by the servants of God is true.
Let’s turn to Ephesians 5:31-32 here: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
The Bible says here that when a man leaves his parents and is joined to his wife, the two shall become one, and that this is a great mystery. When interpreted literally, this passage speaks about marriage, but when seen from a spiritual point of view, it means that once we meet the Lord and receive the remission of sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit, we must leave behind all our past habits and thoughts. So the Bible defines a born-again saint as “the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:10). It means that our everything must be renewed. When a woman gets married, she ought to follow the traditions of her husband’s family. If we otherwise still retain our old thoughts and live according to our past habits even after receiving the remission of sins, then it can only mean that we are not serving our Groom properly.
Our Groom is not an earthly groom, but He is the heavenly Groom, and this Groom is our King and we are His people. In the past, we had been just ordinary people, but now we are cherished by the King of kings as His own people. Given the fact that we have become God’s own people, we should no longer act, speak, or think like we used to when we were lowly and wretched in our past.
The Bible says that when a man gets married, he should leave his parents of the flesh. It’s only normal for a child to leave his parents when he is grown up. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that it’s wrong for you to live with your parents, but once you are married, you ought to raise a separate family of your own unless there is some unavoidable reason. In fleshly terms, you may or may not live with your parents. But spiritually speaking, you must separate yourself from the worldly and the carnal. This means you must cast away all your past thoughts and notions. Rather than dwelling on how you had thought and behaved in your past, you ought to forsake all such old notions and follow the ways of the Church.
To whom did the Apostle Paul say that he was speaking? He said he was speaking to the Church about its proper relationship with Christ. Paul was speaking about the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Church. He used this example of marital relationships to explain the Church’s relationship with Jesus Christ. A normal relationship between a husband and a wife is for the wife to submit to the husband and serve him with love, and for the husband to love his wife dearly, cherish her, protect her, and take care of her to the best of his abilities. That is the foundation of every healthy marriage, and only when this foundation is in place can you build a truly loving home. To put this in a spiritual context, the Church must submit to Jesus Christ for it to maintain a healthy relationship with the Lord. Likewise, for a married couple to build a loving home, the husband must love his wife and the wife must submit to her husband.
No wife can respect her husband if he is leading an ungodly life, but so long as this is not the case, every wife ought to submit to the will of her husband and honor him. If your husband is serving the Lord, then you ought to respect him as a servant of God even if he has some shortcomings. The Bible clearly says that every husband should love his wife as himself and the wife should also honor her husband.
Marriage has changed considerably in this age and time. Many couples get divorced at the first sign of trouble, but today’s Scripture passage should not be understood through the prism of the prevailing cultural norms of this present age. This passage should be looked at in the context of the ancient marriage norms of Judaism and the relationship between Jesus Christ and God’s Church. In other words, just as every married couple should strive to ground their relationship in mutual submission, respect, honor, and care, so must God’s Church ground its relationship with Jesus Christ in the same way. There are many spiritual and everyday lessons to be learned from this passage teaching us what is the right thing for us to do. Both the husband and the wife must strive to build a healthy relationship. If the husband ignores his wife, then he will not be treated well by his wife, just as the wife will not be treated well by her husband unless she treats him well first. Likewise, the Church cannot expect to receive many blessings from God if it ignores His will and does whatever it wants to do.
If God’s Church were disobedient to His will and not serving the gospel of the water and the Spirit now, then would God bless us to prosper in all our endeavors? No, He would not bless us. Indeed, it’s precisely because the Church, God’s body, is obeying His will that He is blessing everything we do. It’s because His Church is serving the gospel that God is providing for all its needs, helping it, and blessing it.
There is so much to learn from the Word of God. Many husbands in Korea are still steeped in the old traditions of Confucianism, thinking that just because they are men, they don’t have to cook or do any other housework which was traditionally reserved for women. But such a notion is very wrong. The traditional teachings of Confucianism are so biased against women that husbands expect their wives to do everything for them in abject servitude, and it’s considered a natural order of things for men to be above women.
But men and women are equal in God’s sight. All our brothers and sisters are the same saints in Jesus Christ. The problem in Korea, however, is that many husbands are still steeped in Confucian ideals. If you are a husband, you shouldn’t try to dominate over your wife, refusing to help her with housework and expecting her to do everything for you while you sit around at home when you come back from work. Housework is something that you ought to do with your wife. Indeed, you should do everything with your wife. Of course, if you are too busy with something else, then you may not have enough time to share the burden of housework with your wife, but you should never think you don’t have to do anything at home just because you are a man.
This is particularly problematic for some of our young ministers. Also, you should be thankful to your wife for whatever food she prepares for you. You shouldn’t be so picky and demand her to cook just what you like. It’s very important for everyone to have a balanced diet, regardless of whether one is a man or a female.
All of us who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and follow the will of the Lord are the body of Jesus Christ. We are the members of the body of Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is our Head. We ought to therefore submit to Christ and obey His commandments. So I ask you to take a moment here to think about whether or not you are faithfully obeying God in His Church as a member of His body. You should not think that you have already done enough for God, and that there is nothing more you can do for Him. The Lord wants to preach the gospel all over the world through us. He wants everyone in the whole wide world to know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We must therefore obey this will and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit to everyone all over the world. We should never think that we have already done enough. Rather, we ought to do what the Lord wants us to do. Jesus Christ wants us to preach the gospel throughout the whole world, and therefore we must focus our lives on spreading the gospel all over the world according to His wishes. That is what the Church must do as the body of Jesus Christ. Everyone who believes in the gospel of the water and the Spirit must serve this gospel in obedience to the will of Jesus Christ.
As the body of God, the Church should be the gathering place of those who believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Those who don’t believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit should be treated differently. They should be treated as sinners, and we should take them as the objects of our ministry to share the gospel with them. God’s work should never be entrusted to anyone who does not believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit. Only then can the Lord work.
Do you think anyone can run the Church? I have spoken to you about God’s Church countless times. I have also explained to our ministers that not just anyone can run the Church simply because he has received the remission of sins. Just because some believers are gathered together, this does not constitute the Church. The Church must have God’s servants, as well as obedient workers who have submitted themselves to the will of Christ. Even if one has received the remission of sins, if he does everything on his own and lives in whatever way he wants to live, then how could such people gather together to form the Church?
That is not the Church. Even if its members have been born again, it is not the Church. It cannot constitute God’s Church. God called Abraham and used him as His instrument. Even though Abraham had many shortcomings, God still used him as His instrument regardless of his inadequacies. Why? God used Abraham as His instrument because he obeyed His every Word.
Some of you may think that since Abraham is a Biblical figure and no one in this present age can really walk like him. But what we must know is God’s Church must walk as taught by the Bible. You must walk exactly as the Bible teaches you. So I ask you not to listen to today’s sermon carelessly only to forget all about it the next day, but instead, listen carefully to what God is saying to you in today’s Scripture passage, remember it in your heart, ruminate or meditate on it, and believe in it. The right thing for you to do is to recognize the correctness of the Word of God, believe in it, and resolve your heart to follow it.
Your life should actually be led as a journey of constant learning. You shouldn’t be fickle, trying to serve the Lord by relying on your own fleshly strength only to give up at the slightest trouble. We are the wives of Jesus Christ. The Lord is our Groom. We should serve the Lord consistently and do whatever He wants us to do. That is the right disposition for God’s Church.
Some saints, after serving the Lord faithfully, give up their service midway when they think that they are not recognized by the Church or mistreated by it. But all of us, regardless of whether or not our labor is recognized by others, are the brides of Jesus Christ, and therefore we all have the duty to serve the Lord throughout all our lives. And to serve the Lord in our everyday lives as His brides, we must submit to the Groom without fail.
Is our Groom any man in this world? Is anyone in this world trustworthy? Can we trust in this world’s love? No, it is absolutely not trustworthy. But the Groom whom you and I are serving is not a mere creature of this world. He is the King of kings. He is the Absolute Being. That is why we must obey His will absolutely.
We must exalt Jesus Christ our Groom. We ought to be joyous together with Him and follow Him in obedience. And we must break down our own wills that stands against the Lord’s will, for only then can we be loved by Jesus Christ in our lives as His true brides.
I hope and pray that God would shape all of us into such lovely brides and people of faith who follow the will of Jesus Christ in obedience.
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