Marriages falling apart like all around us. Vows broken: “Till death do us part” Experts searching for cause or causes. Major Factor: Failure of husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. As leader – husband bears chief responsibility in the home. Husband’s sacrificial love will breathe life into the marriage. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her...So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies…For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. (Eph. 5:29)

Love – Eros or Erao Greek words for physical or sexual love; sensual desire a man feels for a woman. Erotic: to arouse sexual desire. Legitimate desire of a husband for his wife (1 Cor. 7:1-7). Not the word used in Ephesians 5 in describing the love a husband is to have for his wife.

Love – Philos or Phileo Greek words for friendship, affections, feelings, or emotional attachment. Develops or created by actions or attitudes of others. Are lovable or do things that cause you to love them. An important emotion that is needed in marriage. Not the word used in Ephesians 5 in describing the love a husband is to have for his wife.

Love – Agape or Agapao Greek words for devotion, good will, dedication, commitment; to care. Not sensual or emotional, but intellectual. Interest in another’s well-being. Active quality that resolves or wills to provide. A love that can be commanded as a duty (Matt. 5:44). Dedicated to what is right, not affected by the object loved. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

The Love of Christ – Sacrificial By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us… (1 John 3:16) For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:6-8) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, (Eph. 5:25) …Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. (2 Cor. 8:9)

The Love of Christ – Service But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant…obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Phil. 2:7-8) Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. (Matt. 20:28) But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave.” (Matt. 20:25-27)

The Love of Self So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. (Eph. 5:28-29) Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matt. 7:12) Nourish: promote health and strength for their total well-being—physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social. Cherish: impart warmth—suggest the compassion and concern husbands must have for their wives.

Husbands, are we loving our wives as Christ loved the church? Love Has No Boundaries No limits—Nothing was too much for Christ to sacrifice for the church, even His life. Unending—“no man ever hated his own flesh,” thus man must not cease to love his wife. Unselfish—Christ totally gave self up for His bride the church, so must husbands give up self for their wives. Husbands, are we loving our wives as Christ loved the church?