- Eph 5:22-33
- marriage can be a great apologetics tool
- human blueprint of the love of God and His perfect relationship
- human blueprint of the love of God and His perfect relationship
- The Gospel Picture: Union
- Eph 2:24 is quoted within v31
- Paul’s comment about God’s hand in design
- highlights covenant
- binding and permanent relationship held together by God
- “what God has joined together, let no man separate”
- we should direct our focus on “what God has joined”
- Bonhoeffer, writing to his fiancee while in jail: “…it is not your love that sustains the marriage, but the marriage that sustains love.”
- covenant creates greater oneness
- women and men created equally in image of God, but also created differently
- gender difference is essential for complementing
- v32: specific command for specific genders
- Eph 2:24 is quoted within v31
- The Gospel Priorities: Order
- v25: gender roles are essential
- in the Garden of Eden, snake attacked woman first to disrupt the order
- naming something in ancient times showed authority; man named woman
- dysfunctional men often aggressively objectify and subjugate women -OR- becomes passive and submissive in culture
- Christian men must find Christian purpose
- v22: commanded to be biblical man
- Loving your wife:
- Sacrificial love:
- to give up yourself entirely for good of wife (i.e. sacrifice like Christ)
- Chandler, “…wring yourself out for your wife…”
- even when you’re tired to the point of exhaustion serve her
- pray for her; not praying for her heart/growth is sin
- initiate spiritual conversations, prayer, reconciliation
- Sanctifying love:
- v26: make holy
- Jn 17:17
- NOT to lecture theology to her, rather the passage is about asking her about her spiritual health
- does your wife see you get absorbed in the Word?
- Self love:
- v28: self-nourishment and care, sustaining oneself
- Bachaun, “…instead of saying ‘This is my wife’ should be saying ‘This is we’…”
- Sacrificial love:
- v23-24: submission is not devaluing oneself
- Greek translation means “respect, yield”
- coming together under common mission
- not meant to be used as abuse toward woman
- command to woman, but ultimately her choice to submit her trust, feelings, decisions, will, etc.
- Jesus is model of sacrifice for men, but also submission for woman
- The Gospel Pursuit: Christ likeness
- v28
- Christian marriage is meant to be holy, a “…joint adventure of pursuing God in deep friendship…”
- your objective in marriage is to help your spouse love Jesus more than yourself
- prime pursuit of Christian marriage is holiness, not happiness
- God is resetting the universe, and it starts with you and I…
- the nature of sin dispels the notion of “The Perfect One” that we are seeking
- 1 broken person + 1 broken person does not equal bliss, but rather MORE brokeness
- there is no “You complete me” or “Missing Half” because we are complete in Christ!
- your marriage and view of marriage can be your way to show God to the world