A God Honoring Marriage in a Broken World, Part 1
Empowering Families • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Memorial Day. A Day when we remember our fallen soldiers. Those who have made the greatest sacrifice to protect our freedoms and way of life. And it is a great day to remember, but there is one who has made a greater sacrifice for us. There is a soldier who fought a spiritual battle and won. But He had to die to do it.
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
Jesus was our warrior, and God is calling us to be a warrior like Christ for our wives.
The Enemy: Satan
The Enemy: Satan
There is no estate to which Satan is more opposed as to marriage.
Martin Luther
Why?
People are a reflection of the image of God.
The family unit is a reflection of the Trinity.
Marriage is a reflection of Christ and the Church.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
We we created for fellowship and relationship
God is love and by nature love desires a relationship. Love requires fellowship. And although God is complete in Trinity and complete in His fellowship with Himself, love still drives one on to find an object on which to express itself.
So God creates man. God desires to love mankind and show His love to mankind.
So we were created for companionship and relationship, and the ultimate intimacy is when one can be completely transparent, in other words, stand completely naked before another being. I don’t mean just physically. Intellectually and emotionally, too.
We are in a spiritual battle for our families. We have to fight for our families now more than ever!
Satan is wiley.
Satan won the first battle.
So Satan’s goal in marriage is to cause isolation.
TFP - Penitentiary
Satan’s Battle Plan:
Step 1: The Fall - isolate the creation from its Creator.
Step 2: The Curse as a by-product. Isolate God’s creation from each other.
Step 3: The Birth of the sin nature - Flesh - selfishness and lust which creates a constant environment of isolation.
Instead of drawing people closer, you end up pushing them away.
Step 4: The Hiding - Guilt and Shame - isolation from self - self deception
It’s not my fault.
Try to justify or rationalize guilt.
Point the finger at others.
Step 5: The Expulsion - isolation from the truth.
They thought they were gaining insight and knowledge.
They thought their eyes were opened, but they actually became blind.
They could no longer see God.
Step 6: The New Gods - isolation from the cure.
Cain kills Abel. creating one’s own standard.
Fear - finding something, anything to keep one safe, to avoid exposure.
Propping up false gods.
I’m ok. I don’t need help.
The Problem: Hardness of Heart
The Problem: Hardness of Heart
Now We Live In A Broken World.
We are broken humans trying to live with broken humans.
Matthew 19:8 (NASB95)
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.
The Result: Divorce
The Result: Divorce
Hits the one area that reflects God’s relationship to His creation the most.
Look at the consequences
TFP - Divorce and Hope
The Cure: It Was Not That Way From The Beginning.
The Cure: It Was Not That Way From The Beginning.
Matthew 19:8 (NASB95)
He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.
And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
The Sound of Music - Let’s start at the very beginning…do re mi.
TFP - State of the Family
It all starts with Adam
Cultivate and Keep - the Garden and God’s creation
Naming of the Animals - claiming dominion over to cultivate and keep.
Naming the woman - claiming dominion over her to cultivate and keep. The woman is like a garden that needs to be cultivated and kept.
Adam’s Role
To rule and lead creation through delegated authority given by God.
To rule and lead as God would rule and lead.
By the act of naming he showed his acceptance of his role.
Through disobedience to God and the curse that followed we see hints of this.
Genesis 3:6 (NASB95)
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:16 (NASB95)
To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children; Yet your desire will be for your husband, And he will rule over you.”
The word for rule here is different than the other words seen in Genesis to this point.
This word means leadership and authority.
One subtle result of the Fall - and it was a curse - was that the wife was going to have an out of order longing for her husband’s leadership and authority. We’ll come back to this later.
2 of the greatest blessing in a woman’s life, bearing children and having a protecting servant-leader over her, were about to become a difficulty in life.
God’s Blessing
God’s Blessing
Gen. 1:28 - God blessed them: Family is a blessing.
Wives are a blessing.
Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice in the wife of your youth.
He who finds a wife finds a good thing And obtains favor from the Lord.
Children are a blessing.
Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
Husbands...
The blessing of a husband is leadership and authority. A covering.
Numbers 5:19 (NASB95)
‘The priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness, being under the authority of your husband, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse;
Boaz - kinsman redeemer - husband to Ruth to take care of her.
Ruth 3:8–9 (NASB95)
It happened in the middle of the night that the man was startled and bent forward; and behold, a woman was lying at his feet. He said, “Who are you?” And she answered, “I am Ruth your maid. So spread your covering over your maid, for you are a close relative.”
Ruth 2:12 (NASB95)
“May the Lord reward your work, and your wages be full from the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.”
The Lord is described as our husband. As our “kinsman-redeemer”.
“For your husband is your Maker, Whose name is the Lord of hosts; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, Who is called the God of all the earth.
Paul brings this all together in Ephesians 5
For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
God’s Victory: The Seed of the Woman: Jesus
God’s Victory: The Seed of the Woman: Jesus
Jesus is our victor
He sacrificed Himself so that we could be redeemed.
He conquered Satan, Sin, Death, and Hell
Jesus is our warrior, and God is calling us to be a warrior like Christ for our wives.
Jesus is our example
Ephesians 5:21–25 (NASB95)
and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church...Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her...
As Christ loved the church, so husbands love your wives.
As Christ was submissive to the Father, so wives be submissive to your husbands.
It’s possible or it wouldn’t be said to do.
Even after the Fall, Adam reclaims the mantle.
Now the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
Renames Eve.
Reclaims the Mantle of Leadership and Authority.
Redeems the Situation
Re-taking Responsibility.
Marriage is more than finding the right person; it is being the right person.
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