Men, this is one of the places that you try to bail and go back into abdicating.  For this godly marriage, this godly union, see to it that things are reconciled before the sun goes down.  That’s your job.  “We’re going to talk.”  “I don’t want to talk!”  “Well, I can understand that you’re upset and your emotional.  I recognize that, but we’re going to talk.”  Well, what if they don’t want to talk?  Then sit there until they talk.  They’ll fall asleep and talk in their sleep, maybe.  Women, when your husband says, “We’re going to talk,” then you’re going to talk.  That’s called submission.  Amen?  That’s called subordination.  That’s called obedience.  That’s called embracing the order of God.  That’s called, you’re not lord.  When we realize those things and that becomes who we are and we understand our roles, our positions, etcetera, then we walk these things out by faith and obedience, not by feeling and emotion.  That’s why we have this “more sure” Word (a reference to 2 Peter 1:19); amen?  This is a book of justice; it will let us know what is right to do in every situation.

So, when He starts off here in Ephesians and He makes these emphatic statements, we know how this goes over in society today.  Hopefully, it doesn’t cause a rise in you anymore, but it’s so succinct, it’s so direct.  “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands...” (Ephesians 5:22, Colossians 3:18).  I’ll just reference that really quickly: “own husbands.”  Women are not inferior to men or to obey men; they obey their own husbands.  Amen?  In some ancient cultures, women were chattel, literally purchased and owned.  When a man was walking down the street, they were to drop their eyes and not look their direction.  Men are not superior to women.  The Bible does not teach that.  But in marriage, wives being one, bone of bone, flesh of flesh, endeavoring that unification of heart and soul, have been told, when there’s conflict—we’ll look at it in just a moment.  There’s a great Greek word that refers to submitting and to a quiet spirit.  It just simply means, “stand down.”  So, what we’re seeing here, whenever you find yourself and that conflict seems to be rising and your husband makes a comment similar to what I was sharing earlier, “We’re going to talk about this.”  “I’m not going to talk about it.”  You just stand down and follow the course that’s being set by your overseer.

That word is the same, and we’ll look at it as we go into Hebrews talking about spiritual eldership and those that have the rule over us in the church and overseeing in the kingdom of God.  It talks about that role as one of superintending.  It’s a military term.  Many times, it has to do with a commander that’s standing before the troops giving instructions, giving orders.  If there is anything inside, then, ladies, the natural propensity towards it is there, so don’t get upset if the first thing in you is, “I don’t want to stand down.  I don’t even like the terminology!”  If some of that periodically rises in your mind, don’t worry about it.  Sin no longer has dominion over you.  Your thought’s sin, so see it for what it is.  It’s not your opinion; it’s sin.  You have dominion over that, so you tell the flesh, “You stand down!”  Because ultimately your husband can’t make you do it, you have to choose to do it.  Amen?  The alternative to obedience is what?  Rebellion, disobedience.