6. LORDSHIP AND EMULATING HIS EXAMPLE

We also have the words "in the Lord" used by the apostle in Ephesians chapters five and six, where it deals with various human relationships. All our relationships are to be under the control of His Lordship. It must be understood that all the relationships under discussion are affected by obedience to the command "be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18 ). The Spirit-filled experience brings wonderful fellowship in the Holy Spirit:

Ephesians 5:19 "speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,"

No formal meeting can possibly equate with a meeting of released, spirit-anointed people, where thanksgiving flows to "God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Ephesians 5:20 ).

How interesting to see that it is in the flow of the Spirit that the apostle introduces the key thought of

Ephesians 5:21 "submitting to one another in the fear of God."

There is no room here for the old idea still expressed by some: "The Spirit came upon me and I just had to let go." The truth is that the Holy Spirit anoints many during the time of corporate worship in the Spirit, but there He manifests the submission of Jesus in the saints, through their sweet readiness of submission one to another in the fear of God.

Time and again there are testimonies of "I confirm that", because someone has prophesied the very words burning in the confirmors spirit. Out of reverence for God, there is a considerate waiting for one another, submitting to and preferring one another.

Anointed worship, anointed sharing, anointed singing, bring much blessing because there is anointed submission. In the flowing of gifts in an anointed meeting, we are to practice submission, the kind of submission the apostle teaches for all personal relationships in the Christian household, and between servants and masters. It is to be mutual subjection based on reverence for God.

In all our relationships we are to emulate the Lord's example of submission. With this in mind, let us see how we are to live our Lord's example in our various relationships.

Ephesians 5:25 "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her,"

The husband must love his wife just as the Lord does the church (Ephesians 5:29 ). The kind of love that the Christian man must express to his wife, has to be that of total self-sacrifice, if his wife is to experience Jesus' love through him. The self-sacrifice of the husband is to relate to Christ's giving Himself for the Church - that giving is described as "His own blood" (Acts 20:28 ).

That kind of Christ love in the husband will cause him to take the lead so as to protect his wife (Ephesians 5:23 ). Christ as the Head of the Church, is the saviour of the body. Many a wife is left exposed and unprotected because the husband, for selfish reasons, will not take the lead. It is time we accurately interpreted and put into practice these verses on the husband's headship, and confined to the dustbin the old-fashioned and incorrect legalistic view that the husband, by right of headship, can dominate and subject his wife to humiliation never intended by God. Headship means willingness to be the decision-maker in the interest of the wife, and for her protection.

The husband is to so love his wife that he nourishes her and cherishes her, "just as the Lord does the Church" (Ephesians 5:29 ). She can depend completely upon his Christlike love for her because he will be faithful to her unto death (Matthew 19:3-9 ). Only the husband living under the control of the Master; living in the Lord; living a Spirit-filled life, can emulate the Lord in his love for his wife.