Serve One Another by Submitting to God and Thank the Lord Over and Over Again

Now, for those who are going to listen by way of our podcast or by downloading from our website, they're not gonna know why the sermon is so short this week. And that's because we divided you up to answer the question, how do I serve my husband or my wife? And then how am I thankful over and over again for what God has done? Now, why are these things so important? You know, when you think about serving one another, we really don't go into great detail on how I can better serve my husband or my wife.

We just take for granted that we're going to serve them or they're going to serve us. But we don't take time to think through what that looks like in my marriage, in my family. How do I practically serve from a wife standpoint, my husband? How do I serve my wife from a husband standpoint so that that service is totally seen every day? Because we are to serve one another, Galatians 5, verse number 13, 14. We are to be actively involved in serving one another. And that service is to happen constantly.

Now remember, serving is not something that you do. Serving is something that you are. You are a servant in the kingdom of God. Part of your identity is you're a servant people. And how do we know that? We know that mainly because of the incarnation of Christ, the instruction of Christ, and the impartation of Christ. We know that because of the incarnation of Christ. In the beginning was the Word, John 1. And the Word was with God, the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, verse 14.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We had that famous set of verses in Philippians 2, verses 5 to 11. The theologians call it the great kenosis, the great self-emptying of Christ, where Christ relinquished equality of position, but not equality of person. In other words, he relinquished his equality in terms of where he was in glory by taking on the form of a man and submitted himself to the Father, voluntarily submitted himself in order that he might die for the sins of man. So everything about the incarnation screams servanthood.

Our Lord became a bond servant, Philippians chapter two. Became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And then by way of instruction, our Lord would instruct his men in Mark's gospel in the 10th chapter after talking to them about, once again, his death. The reason he came was to die and to explain to them, this is what I'm here for. And then he says these words. You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and their great men exercise authority over them.

But it is not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant. Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slaves of all.

For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So the son of man came to be served. This was his instruction. So everything about the incarnation of Christ is about his servanthood. Everything about the instruction of Christ is about serving one another. And then everything about the impartation of Christ, that is the impartation of the divine nature, because Peter tells us that we are partakers of his divine nature, right? In other words, if he by nature becomes a servant, then we as partakers of that divine nature then are servants.

So we are a serving people. And remember Matthew 11, 28, 29, where Christ gives us a glimpse of his inner man. He gives us a glimpse of who he is on the inside when he says, come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am what? I am meek and gentle in heart. That's who I am. Now, why did he say, you know, come unto me all you that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest? Because I am holy in heart. I am love in heart.

I am grace in heart. I am mercy in heart. Didn't say that. He said, because I am gentle and lowly of heart. Because you see, what he was doing is showing you that in his servanthood, in his ministry, in the incarnation, this is how he revealed himself. And he was gonna impart that nature to you. He was gonna impart to you his omnipotence. He was gonna impart to you his omniscience. He was gonna impart to you his omnipresence. He was gonna impart to you the servant qualities of gentleness and lowliness.

So servanthood is who we are. By nature, we are servants. And so we ask ourselves in a very practical way, how does that manifest itself? If I am going to be a servant of all, and I'm gonna follow the identity of my Savior, what does that look like? How does it manifest itself in a practical way in my marriage, in my family, in my church? How does it manifest itself? Very few of us ever stood up and think, you know what? How can I serve my wife today? So in my effort to get you to think through this, maybe as convoluted as it was, to get you to sit through and think through and outline some practical ways in which this happens, what I'm trying to get you to do is say, I need to manifest this.

I need to manifest my identity as a servant to my husband, my identity as a servant, as a husband to my wife, so that they understand Christ better, because I am a servant as Christ came to serve. You know, we read a lot about things in the scriptures, and we just pass them off as if, oh yeah, I'm to be servant, I'm to love other people, I'm to pray for other people. But we don't pray, we don't serve, we don't love, because we don't do it in a practical way. So in my effort to get you to think through this, I'm saying, okay, how would you best serve your husband?

What does that look like from your standpoint, from your point of view, using the scripture as your authority, the scripture as the reference by which we submit ourselves to, what does that look like in a very practical kind of way? So I had you do that, because these are the kind of things that I do, right? You notice I give you an alliterated outline, or an acrostic whenever I preach, simply because I want you to grasp it and understand it.

I don't do it for me, I do it for you. I do it so you can easily grasp it and understand it. And so I came up with what I believed was the best way for me to serve my wife in submitting myself, or by submitting myself to the Lord. So I said it this way. I believe the best way for me to do that is to submit to one another unwaveringly. Submit to one another unwaveringly. Why? Ephesians 5, 20, 21, says that we are to submit ourselves one to another. And so if I'm going to serve someone else, my wife, in this case, what am I going to do?

I am going to submit myself to her unwaveringly. In other words, I'm not going to waver in my submission. In other words, I'm going to line myself up on her, that's what hupotasso means, is to line myself up under her, excuse me, in order to lift her up, to esteem her. And so the best way for me to do that is to submit to her, not positionally, but in a very practical kind of way, as her husband, because Ephesians 5 speaks about husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, right?

The ultimate act of submission was on part of Christ for the church. And so as a husband who loves his wife, as Christ loved the church, I need to submit myself unwaveringly to her. Number two, I need to edify her or edify one another unfailingly.

In other words, I cannot fail in edifying, in terms of building up. When you edify someone, you esteem them, you build them up, right? Paul says in Acts 20, I commend you to God and the word of his grace, which is able to build you up. I need to be able to edify my wife by building her up through the scriptures, through the Bible, by living out the scriptures, by teaching her what the scriptures say, by helping her understand that the scripture is our authority. So I wanna build strength into my wife by edifying her, by building her up.

And the only way I can do that, once I'm under her submitting to her, once I'm under her trying to prop her, lift her up, rank myself under her, I'm gonna now lift her and build her by helping her understand what does God say about our marriage, our family, and how do we respond to him in a way that honors him. Then number three, I'm gonna rejoice with my wife unendingly.

I'm gonna rejoice with my wife unendingly. The Bible says in Proverbs 5, rejoice with the wife of your youth.

He says in verse number 19, be always exhilarated with her love. So there's something about rejoicing unendingly. In other words, there never comes a time where you end rejoicing with your wife. Or to reverse that around, there's this rejoicing with one another, because we are rejoicing as to what God has done in terms of bringing us together. I wear around my neck this chain, and in the chain, I have this saying in Hebrew, Ani lededi vededi li, which is Song of Solomon 7, verse number 10, which in English says, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.

It's the constant reminder that whenever I am looking in the mirror, that this chain, which is representative of the Phillips translation of Colossians 3, which says that love is the golden chain of all the virtues, right? Love is the golden chain of all the virtues. In other words, love is that which ties everything together, wraps it all together. And so that constant reminder, whenever I look in the mirror, is that I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. And she is the one that I rejoice with all the days of my life.

You know, I find it so easy to serve my wife when I rejoice with the wife of my youth, right? And when I'm rejoicing with her, serving her is fairly easy because I'm rejoicing with the fact that God, he who finds a wife, Proverbs tells us, finds a good thing. And so if you found a wife, you found a good thing, and so you rejoice with the wife of your youth, you do it unendingly. So you submit unwaveringly, edify unfailingly, rejoice unendingly, and value one another unashamedly. Value one another unashamedly.

Peter says in 1 Peter 3, verse number seven, you are to honor your wife. And the word for honor in 1 Peter 3, verse number seven is the same word translated in 1 Peter 1 to speak of the precious blood of the lamb, the honorable blood of the lamb. In other words, as a husband, you are to value your wife as the most priceless treasure you have. Or your prayers are hindered, Peter says. Think about that way, gentlemen. Our prayers are hindered if we don't value our wives as our most precious possession.

And we wonder why God doesn't answer prayer. We wonder why God doesn't listen. We wonder why, if God's gonna do anything at all in my wife with my family. It's because for the simple reason I could not be or might not be treasuring my wife as my most precious possession. Because if you do that, Peter says, your prayers are not hindered. Why? Because God, the ears of the Lord are so open to respond to the man who treasures that which God treasures. And so you value one another unashamedly. If your wife, listen to Proverbs 31, verse number 12.

She does her husband good and not evil all the days of her life. Why, that's just so good. She does her husband good, not evil, all the days of her life. Can you honestly say that you have done your husband good and never evil all the days of your life? And it goes on to say in Proverbs 31 that her husband is known in the city gates, among the leaders of the city, simply because the wife has done him good and not evil all the days of his life. And then it says that at the end, the husband praises her.

Why? He says it this way. He says, her husband praises her. Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all. He responds by lifting her up and valuing her because she is more noble than the other daughters because she has done such a great job of honoring the Lord. But the Proverbs 31 woman is a unique woman in and of herself. She smiles at the future, right? She smiles at the future. You want to be a Proverbs 31 woman? Smile at the future. Does your future look bleak or bright? If you're a Proverbs 31 woman, the future always is bright because you're smiling at the future.

You don't know what the future holds, but you know that Lord holds the future. And that's what the Proverbs 31 woman did because she could live a life that valued her husband unashamedly. And lastly, enrich one another unceasingly. When you enrich something, you fertilize it. You cause it to grow rich, deep, thick, and lush. And the Bible says that when you enrich one another and you do it unceasingly, that means each and every day you are cultivating the relationship in such a way that you're making the relationship rich, lush, plush, exciting, because there's always something growing greater and greater each and every day.

And the Lord wants us to serve one another, especially in our marriages, right? In our families, looking for opportunities to be able to reach out and be used by the Lord by living out my identity as a believer in Christ. So ask yourself this question, how do I live out my identity as a believer in Christ by being a servant in my family, by serving my husband or by serving my wife? We'll see me to our next point, letter T, and that's thanking the Lord over and over and over again. Now, some of you are not married.

Some of you are. Some of you are divorced. Some of you are widowed. But there's always something to thank the Lord for. And our lives should be filled with thankfulness. Listen to Psalm 9, verse number one.

I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart. And I wonder if you thank the Lord with all of your heart. Remember the words of Paul in Colossians chapter three, when he says this, he says, verse 15, let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Then he says, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Then he says, whatever you do in word or deed in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. Thanksgiving is something that's characteristic of the believer. We should always have a thankful heart. So I began to think to myself, how is it we can always be thankful? Maybe you're in a thankless marriage, a thankless relationship. Maybe you're in a thankless family. I don't know. Maybe you're wondering under your situation, how can I be thankful to the Lord? The Bible says in first Thessalonians five, that we are to give thanks to the Lord, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

We're to give thanks unceasingly all the time. And the question comes, are you a thankful person? So as I tried to figure out, okay, how do I reach everybody in the audience? Everybody who might be listening by way of radio or by way of podcast or some sort of social media kind of venue, how do I get them to be thankful to the Lord over and over and over and over again? So I thought to myself, this is how you do it. Number one, you can always be thankful for a throne that is graceful, a throne that is graceful.

Remember what it says in Hebrews chapter four? You know this verse, verse number 16. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so we may receive mercy and find help in time or find grace to help in time of need. There's a throne and that throne is filled with the grace of God. And I am to come boldly before that throne of grace all the time. And so I thought to myself, you know what? We can be thankful, thankful for the throne that is graceful because I go to that throne and the God of grace bestows mercy upon me.

And I should always be thankful to the Lord for that. And then I thought to myself, how about this? A hope that is delightful. A throne that is graceful and a hope that is delightful. Remember, faith is a conviction about God's precepts. Love is a realization and manifestation of God's person. But hope is the anticipation of God's promises. In other words, those with hope live in anticipation. And I am thankful for a hope that is absolutely delightful. Why? Because the Bible tells us in Colossians 1.5 that the gospel is called the gospel of hope.

In Romans 11, or Romans 15, excuse me, verse 11, God is called the God of hope. In Colossians 1.27, Christ in you is the hope of glory. But Romans, Romans chapter eight, Paul says these words, Romans chapter eight, verse number 24, for in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we persevere, we wait eagerly for it. In other words, because there is a hope that cannot be seen, it causes me to persevere.

It caused me not to quit, not to throw in the towel, give up, why? Because there is a hope that is delightful. And when you read on down to verse number 28, it says, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose, right? We know that. How do we know that? Because God said so. So I live in anticipation of how it is, whatever it is I'm experiencing, whatever it is I'm facing, God's gonna cause it to work together for my good and his glory.

Because I love him, and I've been called according to his purpose. So I live in hope. I can't see it, but I live in hope because I thank God for a hope that's delightful, a throne that is graceful. Number three, an advocate that is needful.

An advocate. First John two, verse number one, we have an advocate, a defense lawyer in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Why do we need an advocate? Because we have an accuser. Revelation 12, verse number 10, Satan is the accuser, the accuser of the brethren. In Revelation 12, 10 says, he accuses the brethren day and night. He is relentless in his accusations against you and against me. So I need an advocate in glory. I need a lawyer. I need a defense attorney. And I have one in Jesus Christ, my Lord. Because you see, he can throw out any accusation against me he wants. And the Lord says, oh yeah, I die for that. I die for that.

Oh yeah, I gave my life for that. Oh yeah, that's been wiped clean by the precious blood of the Lamb. So I have an advocate because I have an accuser. I have an advocate that's absolutely needful. And I thank the Lord that he's always there. That's why the Bible says in Romans chapter eight, who shall lay anything against God's elect?

Answer, no one, because he can't. We've been forgiven. We have a righteous standing with our God. So we can always be thankful over and over again for a throne that is graceful, a hope that is delightful, an advocate who is needful, a new life that is meaningful. A new life that is meaningful. In other words, I have new life in Christ. I'm not the way I used to be. I've been born again. I am a new creation. And you know what? It gives meaning to life. Why? Because I have a life that's governed by Christ.

Christ lives in me. He saved me. He sanctified me. And you know what? He sends me. As the Father sent me, so send I you. That's a pretty meaningful life. For Christ to say, go into all the world and make disciples because all authority in heaven has been granted unto me. As the Father sent me, so send I you. You receive power when the Holy Spirit's come upon you. And you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, in Judea, in the Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. In other words, there's meaning to the life of a believer.

Why? Because Christ lives in him. I can always be thankful for a new life, a new life that's meaningful. Oh, and number five, this is good. I'm always thankful for a king who is powerful. A king who is powerful. The Bible says in 1 Timothy chapter six, verse number 15, these words, he who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion or eternal power forever and ever and ever.

Have you ever thought about God's power? And realize that you have a king that's powerful. His power is unique. Psalm 62, 11, power belongs to God. That's what it says. Power belongs to God. In other words, it's unique to him. He's the all powerful one. On top of that, if you read Psalm 107, the power is not only unique, it is unprecedented. If you read Isaiah 45, that power is unparalleled. Isaiah 40, it is unlimited. Isaiah 46, it is unsurpassed. In Isaiah 26, it is unending. In Job chapter five, verse number nine, it is a power that's unsearchable.

And on top of that, it's a power that is unpopular. It's unpopular. Read the story about Christ in the land of the Gerasenes where he takes the man who's filled with legion and casts those demons into swine. And they take this swine dive off the cliff into the Sea of Galilee and are drowned. No pun intended. But all that being said is that great fear came upon the people in the land of the Gerasenes and they said, we want you to leave us. Leave us. Leave us. And Jesus did. He left them. And the man who was demon-possessed and was now no longer demon-possessed, he wanted to go with Jesus.

And Jesus said, no, you can't go, you gotta stay. I'm still gonna leave an evidence of my power here even though it's an unpopular power. Why was it unpopular? Because you see, they saw the power of God over darkness. And the power of God over darkness reveals man's sinfulness. And they didn't want their sinfulness revealed. So they said, leave us. But you know, we have a king who's powerful. But do we really believe that? Do we believe he's powerful enough to save the unsaved in my family, in my marriage?

Do we really believe that? Do we really believe he's powerful enough to supply my needs, to take care of me, to watch over me? Do we really believe that the power of God can enable me to live each day for his glory? Do we believe in the power of prayer? Because God beckons us to pray. We have a king who is powerful. And so I can be thankful over and over and over again, no matter what, no matter what happens, because there is a king who is powerful. He gives new life that's meaningful. He's my advocate who's needful.

He's my hope that is delightful. He's a throne that's graceful. Number six, thankful over and over again for a father who's merciful. A father who's merciful. 2 Corinthians 1, verse number three, he's called the father of mercies.

And you can take a trip through the scriptures and realize that in 1 Kings 13, his mercy is great. In Psalm 86, his mercy is plenteous. In Luke 1, 78, his mercy is tender. In 1 Peter 1, 3, his mercy is abundant. Psalm 103, verse 13, his mercy is everlasting. I have a father who's merciful. I don't know what kind of family you were raised in. I don't know what your father was like, but your father in heaven is a merciful God. And I can thank the Lord that because of his mercies, as Jeremiah said, they are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness.

Because of his mercies, we are not consumed. We praise him for that. A father who's merciful. How about this? An unspeakable gift that is wonderful. An unspeakable gift. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. 2 Corinthians 9, 15. It's called an indescribable gift. But the gift is wonderful. Why? Because the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And the Bible says in Isaiah chapter nine, verse number six, that this child that is born, this son that is given, his name shall be called, what?

Wonderful. I know you wanna say a wonderful counselor, but he's wonderful. He is a wonderful counselor, but he's not the wonderful counselor. He's wonderful. Because all throughout the Old Testament, he calls himself wonderful. Manoah, when he saw the Lord, said, what is your name? And the Lord said, why do you ask? Seeing that my name is wonderful. We have an unspeakable gift that's wonderful. Why? It grants eternal life. And all the gift that God gives through his son is everything that we need for every day.

There's no reason for us not to be thankful. And then lastly, a Lord that is faithful. A Lord that is faithful. I can count on him. He's reliable. He's dependable. He's called, in Revelation one, verse number five, the faithful witness. In Revelation three, 14, he's called faithful and true. Revelation 19, he's called faithful and true. In other words, he is so dependable that whenever I call upon him, he's always there. Whenever I long to see him, he's always there. He's never not there. And he's always reliable to do what he says he's going to do.

And so those are some principles that will say, you know what? I don't care what kind of marriage I'm in, what kind of parents I have, what kind of family I'm involved in, no matter what's going on in my own personal life, my own family life, my own work life, I can rise every day and be thankful for the things that we've just listed for you this evening. And you know what? When you have a thankful heart, the countenance of your person changes, right? And there's a great grace that emanates from your life.

Why? Because you're always giving thanks and praise to God with all your heart. Because there's so much to be thankful for. But sometimes we forget, what am I thankful for? I'm thankful for my health until I lose my health. Then what am I thankful for? I'm thankful for my house until I lose my house. I'm thankful for my husband or wife until I lose my husband or wife. Then what am I thankful for? There's always something to be thankful for. Because of who God is. That's the point. Because of who God is, there's never a reason not to be thankful.

And when you go to God and give thanks to him with all your heart, wow, great things begin to happen because we, the people I've formed for myself, they will declare my praise. Isaiah tells us, and that's true. We declare the praises of God simply because of who he is. So I wanna encourage you. I wanna stimulate you. I want you to understand that, listen, you can go home and begin to serve your husband and serve your wife right now.

Don't wait to serve them tomorrow or don't wait to serve them next week or don't wait for another encouraging sermon to serve. Serve now.

Serve now. And as you're serving, just say, thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to serve. Thank you, Lord, for giving me this opportunity to exercise my identity in Christ and give praise to God for all the things he's done because your marriage is great when you thank the Lord over and over and over again because of who he is. Let's pray together. Father, we thank you, Lord, for tonight, our chance to be together. Thank you for the opportunity to do things just a little bit differently tonight.

We're grateful, Lord, that you can exercise in our own minds how it is we should live for the glory of your kingdom. And I pray for all who are here tonight that, God, you would energize them through your spirit to tackle the responsibility before them, to realize that they had this opportunity to serve in unique and special ways. And that, Lord, they can be very creative in how they serve one another because they do it by submitting to the King of kings and Lord of lords. At the same time, Lord, may we be the kind of people that live thankful lives, giving thanks to God.

This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us, that we give praise and thanks to you for all that you've done. Because, Lord, in giving thanks to you, recognizes that you are sovereign, that you rule, that you're in charge, and that we're submitting ourselves to your direction. And may we do it, Lord, with a heart filled with joy. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.