Sermon Series
Week 7
Ephesians 5:22-6:9 | The Mystery of Christ and the Church
Preaching Commentary
Discussion Questions
How do our everyday relationships — especially in family or close community — reflect the love and sacrifice Christ shows to the Church?
What challenges or resistance do we feel when we hear the call to submit — both to Christ and to one another — and how can we honestly…
Sermon Resources
Key Quotes
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We are not our own: therefore, let us not set our own will as our rule, but submit ourselves wholly to God.
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Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life.
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What Paul does is transform the master-slave relationship by insisting that both masters and slaves have the same heavenly Lord and are accountable to him. The emphasis is on mutual responsibility under the lordship of Christ.
Key Illustration
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More Value than a Coffee Pot
A missionary in a Muslim-majority country got a call one day from his wife. Their local house-helper (a common practice in that country) had accidentally dropped and broken their carafe from the coffee maker. (Coffee isn’t common in that country – everyone drinks tea. So, the coffee pot was considered precious.)
The missionary’s wife called to tell him in advance, not that the coffee pot was broken, but that the house-helper was terrified to tell him. Because women are not valued highly in that culture, she probably expected to be fired or even struck when the “man of the house” got home.
The husband understood why his wife warned him. When he came home, he made sure his reaction showed the house-helper that she was more important than a coffee pot.
Relationships matter and none more than that relationship Christ has with the Church.
By living the love of Jesus, the missionaries displayed God's love to a woman in a way which simple words could not.
Liturgical Resources
Opening Prayer or Prayer of Adoration
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Creator of all things,
Alpha and Omega,
Beginning and End,
Father, Shepherd, Servant,
Brother, Priest and King.
Whose love poured out
mends broken hearts.
Whose wounded hands
reach out to all.
Whose Spirit waits
to enter in.
You are the everything
that we desire.
Be with us now.
Bless us that we might be
a blessing to others.Amen.
Call to Worship
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Leader: God’s Word tells us that love is patient and kind.
People: It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
Leader: Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered.
People: It keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Leader: Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
People: Love never fails.
Prayer of Confession
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Heavenly Father, forgive us when we become so consumed with the details of life that we do not see the opportunities that you have placed before us. Open our eyes to your call to extend love, by communicating with grace and by speaking truth in the world around us. Give us obedient and wise hearts that allow us to see your Kingdom and speak with your words. We pray these things in the name of the one who is your Word, Christ Jesus.
Hear our prayers as we continue our confession in silence…
Time of silent confession.
Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
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Pastor: O people, return to the Holy One your God, who is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
All: Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world.
Have mercy on us, receive our prayer, and grant us peace.
Pastor: Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us.
All: Help us to repent and accept your grace, and by our acceptance
share in the work of Christ in renewing the world. Amen.
Benediction
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May the light of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, be visible to the world through your life; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.