I also had a cat - named Deni - that was pretty intelligent. And one day the cat - Deni followed us into the woods. It was kind of strange. I’d never really seen people walking their cat. But there we were - myself - Lady - and Deni.

At one point on the path there was a guy fixing his motorcycle. And I wasn’t really sure what Lady would do - or who this guy was. So I told Lady to sit and to wait - and to my amazement she sat - and the cat sat down next to her.

I told Lady to stay and walked past the guy with the motorcycle. - and stopped about 10 feet away and told Lady to come. And she got up - trotted over to me and sat down. And the cat was still waiting there.

By this time the guy with motorcycle was watching us out of the corner of his eye. Those of you with cats know that a cat does pretty much whatever a cat wants to do - this cat obedience thing was pretty unusual. And I could see that this guy was getting interested to see what would happen. In fact I was curious to see what was going to happen.

So I called out “Deni come!” - and the cat got up and walked over to where we were and sat down - right next to Lady. And I could see that the guy with the motorcycle was really amazed. So rather than taking a chance on losing the impression we’d made - I quickly told Lady and Deni “Come!” and started walking like this sort of thing happened everyday. And they got up and followed me.

When someone reads these verses in Ephesians - it really ruffles feathers. I mean you can just feel people bracing for another “Wives submit to your husbands” type of sermon. For some there’s this idea of marriage where the husband says come - and the wife obediently just trots along at his beckon call.

But that’s really not how the Apostle Paul is describing marriage. In fact the word “submit” isn’t even in the original Greek version of the Bible. The issues here are fidelity, leadership and respect. Paul is encouraging wives to remain faithful to their husbands. Marriage is an exclusive relationship. And Paul is encouraging wives to respect their husbands and their leadership.

_____ - in Ephesians 5, there are only 3 verses that focus on wives - 9 verses contain instructions for husbands. We men sometimes need a little more help when it comes to relating to our wives. Wives should have husbands that they can respect and can look to for loving leadership.

Paul - in giving us men an example of what this loving leadership looks like - gives the example of Jesus and the Church. Paul writes, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.”

Jesus gave everything for the Church - He set aside all of His Godly attributes - was born in a manger - lived and experienced life like we do - died on the cross to pay for our sins - in our place - and is resurrected - and alive - preparing a place for us in Heaven - and returning for His Church.

Husbands are to give everything for their wives. _____, your goal is to serve _____ and give yourself up for her. Do everything you can to see that she becomes the best that she can be - do everything you can to be worthy of her respect - lead with love and servanthood following the example of Jesus Christ.

This is the commitment you are making this evening. Paul writes it this way, “Let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.”

Let me also encourage you in this. God has given us such a tremendous example of sacrificial love in Jesus - and in the Bible He has given us guidance for life and marriage. Take the time to understand God’s love for you - who Jesus is. Take the time to read His word - and understand practically His guidance.

And to each of us here - _____ and _____’s family and friends - there is a challenged here for us as well - for our own marriages - and as _____ and _____ take their vows and exchange rings - let us also pledge ourselves to do everything we can to encourage _____ and _____ - to stand with them - and support them - in their marriage.