Honor Marriage

My pastor gave a great message this past week called Honor Marriage. He had his wife come up and speak for the parts that pertained to women. I especially liked the following part where he talks of the responsibilities of wives and husbands according to the Word and God's design for men and women. I thought it seemed to express a complementarian view nicely.

Wives are responsible to:

Respect Him. Ephesians 5:33b says, “and the wife see that she reverence her husband.” It was also suggested that you respect your husband by asking him your spiritual questions and by realizing that God will use him (saved or unsaved) to give you guidance. (1 Cor. 14:35)

Accept Him. Have confidence that God is working through him (Romans 8:28).

Be Grateful for Him. 1 Thess. 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”) Wives should try to give their expectations to God and take them off your husband. It will also be helpful for the wife to grow in 'godliness with contentment' (Colossians 3:1).

Influence Him (for good). Wives can gain influence by not rehearsing past failures but by demonstrating present faithfulness in showing genuine love, loyalty, a servant’s heart and by asking forgiveness.

Husbands are responsible to:

Look to Christ. Husbands need to understand that they are not on the top of the chain of command. As the wife is under the husband, so is the husband under Christ. Husbands need to spend more time looking up for our direction & answers, rather than down on their wives shortcomings.

Be a Spiritual Leader. Wives need to experience us actually leading spiritually. This means leading in such ways as regular times in God’s Word, faithfulness in prayer, regular church attendance, and discussion of spiritual matters, followed by searching the scriptures for God’s answer.

Share Vital Needs. Wives need to know that they are meeting vital needs in our lives that no one else can meet. This means the husband must share his fears, goals, and heart with his wife.

Understand their Wife. Our wives need to know that we will listen to hear their heart. They need to know that we are making efforts to understand them.

They also shared a funny personal story at the end to illustrate their message called The Beach Story. The audio is not yet available for this message but I'll add it when it is. Here's the audio--The Beach Story is at the end.