Colossians Lesson 18 Week 2

All right. So just by way of a quick review here, we're on lesson 18. Lesson 18, we covered the first question. And I gave a little bit of an intro last week. I'll just kind of cover that real quick here for those of you that weren't with us. We talked about that Colossians chapter 3 18 through 21 have to do with family, family relationships.

And we said that there were six different individuals addressed in these verses, and I'm including the master and servant verses that follow 21. Courtney, I think, will be picking up at those later, or Mike, one or the other. But we see in this grouping of scripture these three different pairs, six total individuals, but we have the wives and the husbands and the parents and the children and the slaves and the masters.

And we said that within those groupings the scripture lays out an authority and then a subordinate. And we define subordinate in order to be very clear, and I'll define it again. It does not mean inferiority, it just means one under. So it's a term that relates to authority and the relationship of how God has created roles and authority within his creation, and not only within his own triunity, but also within the created family structure. So we have that.

The authority in verse 18 and 19, we have the authority being the husbands and the subordinate being the wives, authority parents, subordinate children, and master's authority and slaves being the subordinate. And so we begin to talk about just the different relationships that we see here, and we said that within these Pairs that are addressed in the family that there are duties mutual duties to both parties And it's that mutual duty towards one another that is the antidote for the misuse of authority. If it was just a one-way street of a duty, then you might say, okay, well, he's not doing his duty, and I've got nothing else to do but sit here and point my finger at him, or vice versa. But there's a mutual duty, and they both need each other in order to function properly.

And so this is a positive set of scripture. This is not a negative set of scripture that's telling us how we can define whether or not divorce is warranted or something like that. This is all very positive. The parallel verses that we look at in Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3 are all positive directions to the believer in order to keep unity and organization and the relationship in the family working as God designed it to work. So these are positive, forward-looking scriptures. There are positive duties and negative duties, but in essence, the entire set of scripture is designed to help the family understand how it should be structured based on God's design. And so we have that mutual duty that we covered last week. So, we got to question number two.

The word submission is in present tense. What does that tell us about the duration of a wife's submission to her husband? And before we actually answer that question, what does the word submit mean? To place yourself under? Place yourself under? Okay? Any other clarifying definitions you guys could throw in there? I'd use the word listen under. Okay.

There is a word for that, and I'm speaking a little bit out of my own study. I saw it, especially when we talk about the children obeying. That word obey specifically has the word listen associated with it. I think that to place yourself under, or to be subject to, to you be subject to your husband's, as it would be maybe further clarified when you get into the Greek side of it. It definitely includes listening, doesn't it? But there's a word, I think, for the word obey.

Go ahead. To stand implies a position of erectness, not bowing down, but just you're standing under. You have a status there. Well, it's interesting. The term has a military definition associated with it. And so from the military idea that's related to this word, it's aligning with a set of words and marching in step. And so when you think about standing, it's literally standing and walking alongside in a relationship of authority, but being in step with one another, aligning yourself with.

Anything else? There's this other aspect of the word submit that is not a forceful submission. It's actually a choice of submission. It's allowing yourself to be under, allowing yourself to be aligned with, allowing yourself to be in step with. And so there's an aspect of volition or the will that's associated with it. It's not a forced thing. It's a choice thing. But it's the choice that is in step with God's designed order for the family. So there's also this idea of response and obedience that comes with it as well. And we'll talk about how that looks and how it doesn't look as we move on through this. But there's also a fourth kind of aspect to the word, and that is agreement.

There's an agreement with. So the wife is in agreement with the authority of her husband. It's not one where she's saying, well, if you just had heard what he said, you would know why I don't agree and why I don't align myself with. That's not the situation.

And we'll talk about the husbands later, because he has an equally difficult duty. Try to love your wife as Christ loved the church. That one's equally a tall order, right? Good thing that we're not involved in doing this in the way that most teachers would have us believe with this set of scriptures. We're going to talk about how that doing gets done, both submitting and loving.

But still, there's tall orders here, and the situation is that because these are mutual duties, when one is functioning, the other one is functioning at the same time, and you have agreement with. So the subjection to, and the authority over, is all done in agreement, and it's done by the choice of, or the will of each of those individuals.

So we have some different aspects Greek-wise to this word, and I'm going to actually address question four with question two since we're kind of talking about the nature of this word. So question four, just by way of reference here, it says, the word submit in Greek is in passive voice.

What does that tell us about how submission is done? Okay, so we're also talking about the passive. We're talking about the trying to address in this question as well the present tense and about the duration. So let's just break this whole word down in all its different aspects. So first of all, what does the present tense tell us about submission? Continuous. Continuous. Okay. Submit all the time on a continuous basis? At the present time.

Is there a situation in the marriage where submission is not appropriate? When it's against God's will. What do you mean? Well, when the authority figure, the husband, tells the wife to do something that is unbiblical and would cause the wife to sin, then she's not to submit to that. Is there a greater authority that the wife is submitted to when her husband is not aligned with the authority of God?

Does everybody agree with that? Alright. I wanted somebody not to. So does the Bible talk about... I mean, I'm not going to go into the subject of divorce and all the different aspects of how that is allowed for in Scripture. If you want to talk to me about that, we can definitely do that after class.

But there's definitely a permission given to a wife who is to set herself under her husband's authority for there to be circumstances where that submission is no longer appropriate for that relationship. And so I'm going to just earmark that for us and say that the authority structure of the family is still underneath the authority of God and His will, just like you mentioned. So we're talking about here, we're not talking about a situation where there's a family who is considering divorce, a husband and wife. We're talking about a family like you and your wife or husband where you're working through the daily routine of living and children and jobs and work and responsibilities and stress.

And this is the situation that God says, hey, don't forget, wives, submit to your husbands. And husbands, as is fitting to the Lord, by the way. And that's the qualifier there. So, it's in the present tense, meaning that it's continuous. It's an ongoing thing.

There's not a situation in an operating family. So, again, not qualifying for divorce and talking about... this verse doesn't even go into that. But in a normal Christian relationship where you have a marriage, there's not a situation where submission should not be a part of it.

Does that make sense? How does that get done? That's so hefty. Such a lofty thought. Yeah, Jack? All of these paragraphs here have to do with harmony It's not a have-to, but it's the way you maintain the harmony in your family. This is what's best for you, according to your Creator. It is. The word's also imperative. What does imperative mean? Is it an option to continually submit yourself to your husband? That is what the scripture says. It's not what feels right, but this doesn't have anything to do with feelings, does it? It has to do with a choice made in terms of how God designed a family.

Now, Mike, you mentioned that it's in the present tense. So I'm not a Greek scholar and don't claim to be, so please, for those of you that can further clarify, In this reference, or in this instance, my study says that it's in the middle voice, but there's parallel passages that are in the present tense. So when we talk about the... Go ahead. You said middle voice? It's in the middle voice here. Middle voice, present tense? Middle voice, present tense. Let's talk about it, for those of you that... Roy?

So, in 1 Peter 3.1, it talks about be subject, same word, different tense.

In Ephesians 1.21-24, again you have this direction for the wife to be subject. So those are both passive voice. So what I decided to present, and I'm open to further discussion, is that this direction to the wife can be either passive or middle. Middle means that you are involved and that you are doing something for yourself. And what's interesting about that is if you think about submitting, it's like, well, I'm submitting for you. This is for your benefit, not for mine.

But if the middle voice holds in this reference in Colossians 3.18, then what it's saying is that that submission is for your own good. It's good for you. You're involved in it. In the other instances, when we see it in passive, who is it that is doing The action's being done to you. The action's being done to you.

So we use, I use the term divine passive just to kind of clarify that there's a divine action being done to you and it's good for you and you're involved in it. So let's just talk about it. How does anything get done in the Christian life anyway? By divine action. Okay. Are you involved? We are. Are you a puppet? Don't answer that. Don't say yes. We have to agree, though. Okay.

So, how are you involved? The Lord puts a situation in your life where the husband is either walking with the Lord or he isn't. You understand your role, according to the scripture, to submit to your husband's authority. And whether or not you fully agree, you're told to submit. How are you involved? What goes on in your brain And then what happens with your doing? How does that mechanic work?

Yeah. I think you have to go back to the first four verses of the chapter. Okay. Where there's information given to us that we are risen with Christ and we should seek those things which are of our life is good with Christ and God and that discussion is there. before there's any imperatives.

So I think that the direction here is given to the man and woman who is risen with Christ and who understands that they are new creatures in Christ. These imperatives are to that person who is a new person in Christ. This is not anything to do with the old man. or the world or anything like that. This is a behavior pattern that are consistent with those who are in Christ and risen with Him. Does that make sense? So we're talking about the new man. So in this case we're referring to the new man in the woman. So follow me here. You're in a situation where you're having to decide to submit. Is it right for you to submit? You probably don't question that. Do you do it? You probably question that sometimes, right?

So how does the process go? Okay, Lord, you've put me in a situation here where I'm given an imperative, and I know that it can be good for me and that I'm involved, but I also know that it's passive and you're going to do it to me. The divine passive. So, what is my involvement? Do we receive it? Receive what? The submission. Okay. Do we receive submission? Is it something that God gives you as a gift at that very moment?

Is that what you're saying? Okay, do we agree? So what's another word for agree? Okay, so here's the word that I was looking for. Trust or believe. Okay? Faith. So, just as in every case of an imperative in the scripture, your involvement is to trust. Okay?

What's exciting about this verse, for the women, is that you're trusting with a certain motivation in mind. What is that motivation? You'll see his work through whatever. Okay, so there's a hope in seeing the Lord at work over time, but what does the verse say, right after it says, wives submit to your husbands? As it's fitting in the Lord.

What is your motivation to submit? Is it, man, if you just saw what a crummy guy he was to me earlier today, I'm not motivated to submit at all. I have no desire to give any of my attention or agreement with him. Is that situation common? Okay. Can you say it a little louder? Yeah. In that moment, the wife has a choice to make. Is he going to motivate me to submit? If He is the one who's motivating you to submit, you've got a biblical error in your thinking. And you probably have had it, and I've had it. I've had the wrong motivation for love. It's not the true expression of love.

You take it till you make it. That's what I always talk about when you're not walking in the Spirit, but you sure do look like it to everyone else. We can do that, can't we? Sure fake it till we make it. It just turns out you can't make it. The only thing that can be done is for you to come before the Lord and trust Him to do the living through you.

So here we have a situation where the wife says, situation where I need to submit to the authority of my husband, to align myself, to place under, to stand under, to agree with, to have alignment with, I don't necessarily understand all of his motivations and why he's saying it the way he's saying it, or what he's doing, or how he's making his choices, but my motivation is to the Lord, and I can either trust him with that, Or, I can find my motivation somewhere else, and it's probably going to be based on feelings. And in that situation, it's not faith in the facts that keeps the train on the tracks. It's faith in the feelings, and guess where you end up? In a fight. Right? That's what happens.

So, if the motivation is in the Lord, what is submission really all about? My Bible says that if we submit, the husband will see that is good and be wanting to do likewise. So there might be a mutual effect. And we talked about the mutual duty, and when those mutual duties are being trusted by the believer for the Lord to carry out in their lives, you have harmony.

Is it always in step like that? But it goes back to that first question that we had last week. If the husband is to love the wife first or the wife is to submit first, then how does harmony happen? What's required? For somebody to do something, right? It's like the chicken or the egg thing. Does the husband love first and the wife submit? Does the wife submit first and the husband love? If your eyes are on each other, that's a valid argument. But here it's talking about your eyes being on the Lord. So it really doesn't matter who's first or what the other person's response is. You can only choose for yourself how you operate in the family.

And then we can use teaching from the Word to encourage one another. So that might require marriage counseling with the scripture, and this would be one of those verses that's very important to understand. Again, this is positive scripture. This is not about what to do when he's harming you physically or anything like that.

This has to do with how does God desire the family relationship to operate. And it's a positive thing because when it works this way, you have a marriage that is biblical. Two things about that. One is God designed marriage to be pleasurable for the people that are in it and to fulfill them. And I think sometimes we don't recognize that the reason God put marriage together was those reasons.

So that the man and the woman can be fulfilled in that environment and it's supposed to be pleasurable. It is. You know, this whole realization of where the motivation comes from for the wife, it removes a ton of pressure. It removes pressure from me. Because if I'm the one that's supposed to motivate her to submit to me, I'm in deep trouble. I don't want that weight. And guess what?

God didn't design that for you husbands. He designed the woman to submit under you according and as fitting to the Lord." So it's about her and the Lord, initially, and her trusting the Lord as she chooses to be subject, and it is the Lord that does the submitting through you. So when my wife and I are in a situation where this verse is true of our lives at that moment, the Lord is living through me the Lord is living through my wife, and there is complete and total grace and harmony there. We use the term, and Les and I use it often, and it's newer, I think that Vern brought it up at some point, but Christ in me doesn't have any problem with Christ in you. So when there's a problem, It's either one of the both of us that are out of fellowship with the Lord because there's no misalignment with Christ in me and Christ in her.

Does that make sense? It's important to remember. It's the same thing with our kids. We'll talk about that next week. But there's not a problem with Christ being in fellowship with Christ as He expresses His nature and His life through us. The problem is when we get in the way. So back to the question.

It's imperative, it's present tense, it's middle and passive in different instances, but this is an opportunity for you to be in fellowship with the Lord and in fellowship with your husband, and it's all motivated by your relationship with God. 100%. It removes pressure from me to feel like I have to motivate her to do something. No. This is about her and God. The thing about this, and I mentioned it a moment ago, but a correct understanding of these verses and the motivation here, this is the only kind of interpretation that harmonizes with grace.

If it weren't as fitting to the Lord, what would it be? A rule and a law. It wouldn't be vertically aligned, it'd be horizontal. And we'd be thinking about, well, goodness, as long as he's keeping his job in check, and I'll keep mine in check, and here we don't have a situation of undeserved favor.

We have a situation where love is only valuable when the other person is doing what they're doing. That's not grace. It has nothing to do with what the verse is talking about. But that's how we take it. And that's how sometimes it's taught. God doesn't bless us for our merits, does He? He blesses us because of the perfection of His Son. Right? That's where it is for us.

Back to what Mike's saying, the first four verses of the chapter here, we're talking about the new man in Christ. So this is a situation of grace, and the focus is really the Son, the life of Christ here. And it's beautiful when the Lord's doing the living. This whole submission thing is a beautiful thing when the Lord's doing it. And guess what your involvement is, ladies?

To trust. To trust Him for it. And to be motivated by Him. You don't get your motivation from us. It's from Him. Is it a supernatural empowerment? Because of the new man and the woman, the supernatural power that enables them to pull this off. What do you mean by supernatural? God in them working and loving. So if supernatural means God in us working through us, is this supernatural? I think that God has been a supernatural being. Does it go back to our motivation to submit, which would be God's love? We love because God first loved us. We'll talk about that. That's exactly right. Yeah, it comes out with the husband next. So it's very appropriate.

You know, I don't like the term supernatural, personally, just because it has a connotation outside of the scripture and it doesn't actually show up in the scripture that I'm aware of. Sometimes we think of supernatural as being like a miracle, but it's something that's unaccountable. How come that came to be? But grace and truth came with Christ. Reality came with Christ.

Yeah, I agree. I think, I mean, natural. What does the word natural mean, right? God created. He's the creator. He's different than his creation. So we have the creator and the creation. And the question is, where does this ability come from? Does it come from the creator? Or does it come out of the creation? Two things there.

I believe that it's both. First of all, it's our responsibility to trust. And it's his responsibility through the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfill that imperative, whatever it is. If he says that it's imperative, then he's going to do that through you if you trust him to do it. You say that a few more times. Really? For emphasis. For emphasis.

I don't know what I just said. It might help to think of this as grace is the operating system we live in. Because that's who God is. This is personal. Okay? This is about a person. It's not about a supernatural power. that doesn't have a nature to it. We're talking about Christ's life. We talk about position and condition.

This is no different than any other imperative that we see in the New Testament or the Pauline Epistles. I mean, this is no different. It happens the exact same way, and that is that we come to the Lord as a creature, and we choose to trust Him about what He says, given X, Y, or Z. I can have just one more thought and that is we're all part of his body and he is our head. And when we believe that, whether we're husbands or wives, you know, we are communicating as the thumbnail or the toenail or whatever of his body. We're communicating who he is to the world because we're involved in it. It's us as a community, body, Christ.

That's right. So there's definitely a larger picture. But just for the purposes of how I've built this topic into the discussion that I have so far, at a personal level, just to repeat it again, and maybe try to get it clear before we go on to question three. At a personal level, we've received truth. We understand what the Lord has desired of us. and says that this is impaired.

You don't have a choice here. This is what I am telling you is right. Okay? Do you believe that? Okay, step one. I believe it. Now, here comes this situation. Circumstance comes up. You read that in your quiet time. It was nice and calm and your husband was off at work and you didn't have the rub that's going to happen later on in that day. But you believe the truth and you say, Lord, I trust you with this truth and I desire to be motivated by you. He gets home. Things happen.

You have to decide, do I believe what I read this morning? Do I believe that the person of Christ is trustworthy in this circumstance, and do I believe that He is going to do the submission through me, the living through me, if I trust Him with it? Do I believe it? If you do, then that is what is fitting to the Lord.

If you don't, You get your motivation from somewhere else and you fake it till you make it. Maybe it lasts a few weeks. Maybe it lasts a few years. I don't know. The point is, is that this comes down to some personal thinking that is based on the person of Christ. That's who you are. Okay? So this is, this is, this is, I use the word opportunity, but really there's no other option here except for to grow in it. Because it's who you are. You're in Christ and this is what He does. This is a parallel. What's the parallel of the wives submitting to their husbands and the husbands loving their wives?

See, our marriage is just a picture of something else. So we're talking about the order of things that will exist on into eternity. They're true of us now. This is reality now. But although our marriages won't exist into heaven, a marriage will exist in heaven. And this is a picture of that exact eternal relationship between Christ and the Church. And it's true of us now, and it'll be true of us then, in a fulfilled way.

So let's move on. We've got to get on these guys before we run out of time. In light of the equal positional understanding that have no distinctions for those in Christ, why does Paul require this kind of submission as a principle by wives to their own husbands?

And then the references of 1 Peter 3.1 and Ephesians 5.22-24 are given there. We have this term, no distinction. There's no distinction. Where does that occur in the Bible? That's what I first wanted to understand when I addressed this question. Does the Bible say there's no distinction between male and female? Where? Let's take a little tour. Acts 15, 8 through 11. You don't have to go there. Just follow with me here. 15, 8 through 11, you can write down the references to look at later.

But here, it's not talking about male and female, it's talking about Jew and Gentile. And they both received a cleansing of hearts by faith. They both were saved through grace. So there was no distinction with regards to Jew or Gentile of whether or not God was going to save them by grace. So it was a salvation issue, and there was no distinction with regards to Jew or Gentile whether or not God would give them salvation. Okay?

Romans 3.22 Righteousness of God through faith for all who believe. Righteousness through faith was available to everyone. There was no distinction that God made between anyone with regards to giving righteousness through faith. Okay? Salvation thing, again.

Romans 10.12 The Lord is the same for both the Jew and the Greek. There's not a different authority or creator, or one who provides righteousness through faith for either Jew or Greek. So again, it has to do with salvation.

Colossians 3.11. Here we got a little bit of a shift in distinction. They all share in oneness of Christ. That's a little different. Isn't it?

Colossians 3.11. all share in the oneness of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12, 13, all are baptized into one body.

So in these verses, there's the term distinction. No distinction occurs. And I'm just telling you what the result of that no distinction is. Regardless of who you are, we're all baptized into one body. That's what we're saying. There's no distinction between man and wife, Jew or Gentile, with regards to where we're baptized or placed into. We're placed into His body.

Galatians 3.28, I think that's the verse you had in mind. We are all one in Christ, Jesus. And the reference to neither male nor female is present there.

So let's look at Galatians 3.28 real quick. Because I think this is the one that is most specific to the context of what we're talking about. negate submission because of our oneness.

Somebody read Galatians 3.28 for me. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. We see examples of Jesus submitting to God. Okay. Yep. And I would say that they're all equal. Is this verse positional or conditional?

In your position, is there any distinction between male or female with regards to your oneness in Christ? So, I wrote, this is a little bit long, but hang with me here. I said that we might say in terms of having received the gift of salvation, because that's what all the other No Distinction verses are referencing. So, we might say that in terms of having received the gift of salvation, and us having been placed in Christ, and subsequently Christ doing the living through us, there is no human distinction that prevents this reality. So it doesn't matter if you're a male or a female, the Lord saved you in the same way, he placed you into his body the same way, and he does the living through you to transform you and conform you in the same way, regardless of male or female. There's no distinction in those things. So I'll ask it again, does our oneness in Christ negate or does it inform the duties and roles that God has placed on each of us individually? It informs it. It doesn't negate it.

So we're living out, right now, man and woman, husband and wife, we're living out an eternal romance. That eternal romance is what? Christ and the Church. That's right. That's where all of this comes to complete fruition. Every duty, including cement, including love, in the marriage is motivated by our oneness in Christ and is expressed in love. Does that make sense? Let me say it again. Every duty in the marriage is motivated by our oneness in Christ and is expressed in love.

So, positionally, we are equal. We are in Christ, we are all equal, but conditionally, We all have responsibilities to follow God's design for each sex, each authority figure, and so on. I would say yes to that, except for using the term equal. So I believe that we are both equal, positionally and conditionally. We just have different roles in that equality. There you go, roles.

Yeah. I think in the Godhead, You have three persons in the Godhead, but they don't all act the same way, because they all have different roles to carry out, but it doesn't negate their equalness, because Jesus is called the Son of God, does not put him in a position of inferiority to the Father.

It's just that the roles that they have decided to carry out, The Lord Jesus said when he was here, I never do anything of my own. Never. And that's indicative of, I think, us as believers in the body of Christ, we should be able, as we grow, to say the same thing. I never do anything of my own. I always do what I see my Father do.

Good. Well, we answered question number four here, with regards to the passive voice. So, the middle voice, we just talked about, that's, yes. I wondered if you could say that sentence again, every duty in the marriage, what? Let me go back here. Every duty in the marriage is motivated by our oneness in Christ and is expressed in love. Thank you. You're welcome. Remember, Christ in me doesn't have any problems with Christ in you. We're one in Christ.

That's the joy. That's where the joy side comes in. So that takes me to question number five. Is this a happy place for a wife? Yes, sure. Is happy the right word? No. What word would you use? Well, that's interesting. Fulfilled. Satisfied. Joyful? Content? Yeah. Joyful. Happy, I just don't think is biblical. Okay. Are there biblical situations where we see a state of happiness? Yeah. Okay.

So happiness is biblical, I think. And we do see situations where someone is singing and outwardly happy. But I think I would like to ask the question, is this a place of joy for the wife? Because by joy I mean something different. I'm talking about a fruit of the Spirit now. Right?

So we got Galatians 5.22, we got joy. Is joy... Can a wife experience the spiritual fruit of joy in a marriage where she is submissive? She sure can. It's different than happiness. The Holy Spirit produces joy. Can a wife experience joy in a marriage in which she's not submissive? Did you hear the question? Well, think about it. This shouldn't be a hard question for us. It's tricky, but now that we're into it, it shouldn't be hard.

Where does joy come from? Where is submission motivated? It's all on the Lord. So, no, if your submission is not motivated by the Lord, and it's non-existent, then you're not aligned with God. And the fruit of the spirit of joy is not going to be growing.

Is it? It can be happy. But happy is fleeting. It's a feeling. Joy is not necessarily a feeling. It can express itself with feelings. But, I mean, goodness, Paul talked about the joy in his afflictions, and he sure didn't have a happy place. Right? But he had joy. Happiness depends on our outward circumstances, but joy depends upon the Lord who never changes. If you're submitting as is fitting to the Lord, it's a joyful place to be because that is where the Lord is. So you're saying happy and joyful are different? Absolutely. Oh, okay. Yeah. Can you, in a situation, I mean we use a lot of different examples, but let's just stick with the marriage one. I've got five minutes and hopefully this will help bring it to a good close.

You've got a situation in your marriage where you're not going to be happy. Did that situation rob you of your joy in the Lord? If it did, then you had your eyes in the wrong place. Your circumstances don't determine your joy. Happiness is very circumstantial. I'm either happy or I'm not. And it's okay to be happy. But joy is something that is between you and the Lord. And you may be afflicted and put in prison like Paul, But he said, my joy is complete. Why? Why was Paul's joy complete? He wasn't happy shackled and chained in prison at all. But how could his joy be complete? Because he had an inner peace that he was serving God. I agree. And not only was he serving him, he was fellowshipping with the creator of the universe who through all things were made And I know you. And you know me.

And even if my husband's being a big jerk over here, I have this most amazing relationship and the opportunity to fellowship with you in ways that can't be defined by the circumstances of his jerkiness. Your joy is not defined by others or your circumstances.

That's biblical joy. But I'm happy that I'm joyful. Sure. Sometimes your circumstances align with the spirit of joy. But they don't always. And if your circumstances or people determine your joyfulness, then you don't have a biblical understanding of joy. Joy is a person. Okay? Do you have a thought?

I'm happy I got a raise. And I'm joyful about it. Thank you, Lord. I just got a pay cut. I'm not happy. Lord, you're at work. I'm at peace with you. There's a joy there. I don't get it, but I'm at peace with you, and you're working in me to conform me, and that's joy. You haven't forgotten me, even though my boss did. You don't forget me. You're at work here. This is important. Your position hasn't changed. I haven't changed one place in my position. And that's eternal. You got to raise with it. It just has to trust me with his resources. It's all his. Yeah. And that's the joy. Yeah. Okay, what are you going to show me? How are you going to use this Lord? I was going to buy a new boat, but we could always go with Roy's answer.

I think it's important to point out that the fruit of the Spirit is singular, and that all other fruit is in play at one time. I've got joy, but I don't have the rest of them. They're all, because it's the life of the Lord Jesus, and that's Him. And that's how He functions. That's a good point. Absolutely. But fruit is both singular and plural. Well, boats are interesting. You know the two great day boats, the day you buy it and the day you sell it. Well, I'm going to leave question number six. To what extent are husbands to love their wives? To Mike. I'm going to be traveling for Thanksgiving and he's going to help me pick up question six there. I hope to get into it.

So just by way of hopefully adding to what I've said about the wives here, this is a mutual duty. And I've talked all about the submission side of it. Mike can pick up with the other side of it, but this is mutual here. And so we need to understand next week the duty. And again, it's an imperative here that God is talking to the husbands in terms of love. And when love, the type of love that we're going to see here is being trusted by the husband, then you have a harmonious relationship. And it's equally important. So just keep in mind that these are mutual duties that need one another to have harmony.

But even if they don't exist together, they're still unto the Lord. So there's still joy for the wife who has a husband that doesn't love her this way. there's still joy for that woman. And to flip it around next week, there's still the opportunity of a husband to love a wife who doesn't respond to her. It's a tall order there too. It's a good thing that we have the life of Christ that's involved in all of that, right? what our roles are with one another and we just continue to trust you to enlighten us to or illuminate our hearts to these truths and that we might believe them and we might find that fellowship and that being conformed to your image through these circumstances produces joy in our hearts that is founded in you and always expressed in grace. It's in your name we pray. Amen.