Better Than Two Cast Iron Tubs

Life is… one darn thing after another, according to Mark Twain. There is no shield or buffer, particularly in tough times. There are real and imagined threats. We can even multi-task, invading the future to tap into the anxiety of things that haven’t happened yet.

So what’s a man to do (emphasis on “man”)? It is hard enough to keep your own head on, much less worry about the heads of others, especially that significant other, the wife.

Jesus offers a special benefit to hanging out close to Him. It is referred to as “the washing of water with the Word.” This is what Jesus does to the church, and practically, to all who walk close to Him.

The effects of this life are toxic and cling to us. We need to be washed daily. Our hearts are also toxic, and incited by life, it begins to fill our blood with impurities. Staying close to Christ means that His Word washes us. He supplies us with daily dialysis, clearing the stuff out of our blood. How do you know if someone is close to Christ? They behave and smell like they are clean and they act healthy. Paul says, “but if one loves God, one is known by Him.” It is involuntary. You love Him, you hang out with Him and you’re getting fresh and clean and refreshed, and you get known by what He does to you.

For a guy, it means that life gets centered in Christ. You have the Word working in you to give balance and perspective, trust and determination, love and reliance. What we read is used by the Spirit. We see Abraham and Sarah waiting and we are convicted and think about our waiting. We see David surprised by the loss of everything and we learn to strengthen ourselves in the Lord. And it goes on and on. None of this is easy and it means staying close to Him even when we could do other stuff. It’s amazing how it works.

I notice the effect it has on me to be washed in the Word in my reading and in memorizing and the often subtle effect of God’s Truth and Spirit being there with me to help me or caution me or to advise me everyday and in every situation. It really is cool and I think this is what it is supposed to be.

So then, as a guy, I read Ephesians 5 where it says that husbands loving their wives they should follow Christ’s example and give themselves to sanctify her by the washing of water with the Word.

Especially in the situation we’re in, I notice how calming and helpful it is that Laura is in the Word and that we are reading the same stuff. When I come in we have a short discussion almost everyday about something she read. We go over the discipleship stuff for “future ministry” but really, it is to wash us in the Word now. Even today, talking about Grace and reading the prodigal son was good.

I think this is supposed to be the ministry of a husband to his wife, doing as Christ does to His church. How many years have I told my wife “stuff?” Sometimes it helps and sometimes not. I’ve prayed a lot. But if I understand what God is saying here, like Christ, I am to set her aside for the Lord and to lead her by sharing with her in the Word. As God is working in me, I am to be with her making this a part of our lives, allowing the Spirit to cleanse us and keep us soothed in the Word. It has to be true of me before the Lord, and I have to be pursuing it with Laura. The effect is to present her to Christ with splendor, without spot or wrinkle, that she may be holy and without blemish.

How many wives are resigned with frustration or riddled with anxiousness and their husbands are no help. The truth might be that the husband can’t help. Whoever said a man could meet an essential need that only God can meet. Hook up a 3 volt battery to a semi and try to crank it up. It would eat the battery without a peep or the slightest movement. Only the Lord can care for the deepest needs. So the husband is to gently lead his wife to the stream of the Word and is to develop the habit with His wife to spend time washing together in the Word. Happy is the man whose wife loves the Lord and the Word and will do this. Happy is the wife whose husband loves Christ and gets this. It’s better than having two cast iron tubs next to each other in the back yard and the neighbors won’t call the cops.

Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

You can’t keep life out, but you can keep clean. Christ doesn’t take us out of the world, He just promises to live with us, closely, dining with us, hanging out, cleansing us as we get the job done He left us here to do. People notice you don’t smell and they get curious. They see your calmness and balance and perspective, and they wonder. They see a marriage without toxins and wonder how that happened. It’s all in the company we keep and the washing of water with the Word.

Naturally: The gospel as joy and hope and glory

In my mind, because of church experience and the way it is done, I think of the Gospel as a presentation of truth, the truth about Jesus and what He did. I’m sure that’s what it is.

But maybe the Gospel is first and foremost really a presentation of Joy. Maybe we got it wrong side forwards.

When Paul describes what the witness of a church should look like, he says, “Romans 15:5 May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So here are the elements:

In harmony with one another…one mind, the unity of the faith…

In accord with Christ….His mission and commission…until we all attain to…the knowledge of the son of God, mature manhood, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, abiding in Christ.

Now comes the witness…together with one voice glorifying the God and Father.

I think everyone can glorify God for what He has done in Christ. To “glorify” simply means to shine light on something, like pointing to a sign or a mountain. A couple of verses later it says that Christ came so that the Gentiles might glorify God because of His mercy. If God were a cool video we could say, “Hey, take a look at this,” and show it. If God were a grandchild, we could whip a photo out of our wallets and say, “Hey, look at my grandkid.” If God was God we could just…..but we’re not really too proud of Him. And worse, we’re not really too happy about what He did for us or in us. Or are we?

Do we need a class on how to glorify God, how to express our thanks, or show our gratefulness in front of others? If we do need a class, we are to be pitied. What have we become? How did we limit all of this to musical hour on Sunday? “Therefore do not be ashamed of testifying to our Lord…” Just say how happy you are? If you won a million dollars you would be happy and tell people. Spiritually and really, you did better than that. If you met Tom Cruise or Oprah or the Queen, you’d let people know. Well? And if you had been miraculously set free from a terrorists' fort where you were about to be killed and a black ops team did an amazing A-Team type extraction, you’d let people know. Well?

Paul says in Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” I sense that this is a leaky kind of hope that people would see, and they’d come up to you and say, “Hey I don’t know if you know this, but you’re covered with hope and sort of leaving a trail.”

The more I think of how natural our witness is to be, the more I realize that it has to be the natural result of Joy, not apologetics. Our confession is in worship…at His feel in grateful submission and thanks and then serving Him on our feet in doing love and acts of Spirit-inspired kindness to our neighbor for Christ as the Holy Spirit shows us. And we live in joy and hope and express as much.

Joy and glorifying God for His mercy seems to me to be the natural, built-in witness to Christ that each person and the church as a group, is meant to unleash. We make it hard on ourselves and neglect our calling by making our joy private and small. His love is public and generous and leaky and it left a trail…of blood.