Welcome to the Feminine Podcast. This is Nancy Wilson. Thanks so much for joining me today.

As promised, today's topic is marriage is discipleship. So here we go. As just a little reminder

last week, I mentioned three aspects of Christian discipleship. One, deny yourself,

two, take up the cross and three, follow Jesus. So that's how I'm going to divide this topic today.

First, how is marriage an opportunity to deny yourself? Philippians 2.4 says,

let each of you look out not only for his own interest, but also for the interest of others.

Self-denial is putting others first. And who are those others? Well, of course, a Christian puts God

first. We believe him, love him, and obey him. We put his interest ahead of our own. But in

this context, others are all those who are not you. When you're standing in line, the person ahead

of you is another, so is the cashier. But closer to home, and since I am talking here about marriage,

you put the interest of your husband ahead of your own interest. Ephesians 5.22-33 has a lot of

self-denial going on in these verses, so I'm going to read over these. Starting with verse 22,

wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife,

as also Christ's head of the church. And he is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as a church

is subject to Christ, so let wives be to their own husbands in everything. Your husband is God's

appointed head of your family. He's the head of your marriage. So self-denial is being a joyful

follower, a helper, an obedient wife, submitting to him as you submit to the Lord. Well, what about

husbands? Does Paul leave them out of this charge of self-denial? No, he doesn't. Starting in

verse 25, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for her,

that he might sanctify and cleanser with the washing of water by the word, that he might present

her to himself a glorious church not having spotter wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should

be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who

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