SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/15/2019 8:49 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “The Model
of Submission”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
5:23b-24
Message of the verse: “He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.”
I
want to look again at some verses in Philippians to show us how Jesus Christ
submitted to His Father in order to pay the price for our salvation. “3 Never act from
motives of rivalry or
personal vanity, but in humility think more of each other
than you do of yourselves. 4 None of you should think only of his own affairs,
but consider other people’s interests also. 5 Let your attitude to life be that of Christ Jesus
himself. 6 For He, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to His
privileges as God’s equal, 7 but stripped himself of every advantage by
consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a man. 8 And, plainly seen as
a human being, He humbled
Himself by living a life of utter obedience, to the point of death, and
the death He died was the death of a common criminal. 9 That is why God has now
lifted Him to the heights, and has given Him the name beyond all names, 10 so
that at the name of Jesus "every knee shall bow," whether in Heaven
or earth or under the earth. 11 And that is why "every tongue shall
confess" that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Phil.
2:3-11 Phillips). We can see from these verses that the supreme
and ultimate model of submission is Jesus Christ Himself. Christ is “the Savior of the body,” His
church, for whom He died on the cross.
Jesus Christ is the perfect Provider, Protector, and Head of His church
and the church is His body.
MacArthur
writes “Jesus Christ is the divine role model for husbands, who should provide
for, protect, preserve, love, and lead their wives and families as Christ cares
for His church. Wives are no more to be
co-providers, co-protectors, or co-leaders with their husbands that the church
is have such joint roles with Jesus Christ.
Just as ‘the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be
to their husbands in everything.’
“To
follow God’s plan for the family not only is pleasing to Him but is the only
way to godlier, happier, and more secure homes.
His plan is neither for exaltation of man and suppression of woman nor
the exaltation of woman and suppression of man, but for the perfection and
fulfillment of both man and woman as He has ordained them to be. Such perfection and fulfillment is made
possible by the filling of the Holy Spirit.”
This
SD marks the end of talking about the role of the wife and as mentioned in an
earlier SD we will next be looking at the role and the priorities of the
husband. As John MacArthur mentioned
none of the things that a wife or a husband are to do cannot be done without
the filling of the Holy Spirit. We began
looking at being filled with the Holy Spirit back in verse eighteen back on the
9th of July and will continue to look at what believers are to do as
they are filled with the Holy Spirit. As
we looked at the verses in the book of Philippians at the beginning of this SD
we saw what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for us when He came to
earth. I believe that at His baptism
which was the beginning of His ministry we see that the Holy Spirit came upon
Him in order to fill Him so that He could do what the Father sent Him to do,
that is pay the price for His bride as He died on the cross. I heard someone say a very long time ago that
it was the Holy Spirit who lived the perfect life in Christ while He was on
earth, and so the point that I want to make is that if Christ was filled with
the Holy Spirit in order to accomplish what God planned for Him to do, then we
as believers are in need of the Holy Spirit filling us to do what He has
planned for us to do: “For God has made us what we are, created in Christ Jesus to
do those good deeds which he planned for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 Phillips).
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It is my desire to have the Holy Spirit fill
me so that I can accomplish the works that God has for me to do this day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: The answer to being humble is found in the
verses in Philippians that we looked at, and also in our verses we have been
studying in Ephesians, and that is being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Toda’s quotation comes from an unknown
author who said “The Bible is bread for daily use, not cake for special
occasions.”
8/15/2019 9:20 AM
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