A God Honoring Marriage In A Broken World, Part 6

This may not be a standard text on marriage, but in light of the fact that marriage is a reflection of Christ and the church, I want to view it through that lens. I’m hoping that by the end you’ll see more clearly how our relationship to Jesus is reflected in our relationship with our spouse.

Our relationship with Jesus is only possible because of the Gospel

Our relationship with our spouse is best lived out in light of the Gospel

Through the Gospel we find peace and freedom.

Through the Gospel we can dwell in peace and freedom with our spouse.

The glory of God shines brightly through the Gospel of Freedom.

God’s glory can shine though our marriages.

The glory of God transforms us into the image of Christ.

God’s glory transforms our marriages to reflect the image of Christ.

The glory of God shines through our cracks

The glory of God shines through the cracks in our marriage.

So that we can be a light to the world.

Summary of 3:1-17 - Quick hits

Visibility - vs. 1-3

You are our letter known and read by all...

Even more so, you are a letter of Christ.

For better or for worse, you are visible to everyone. As are our marriages.

The problem is that often we can look good to others on the outside and be a mess on the inside,

And the same can be said about our marriages. We can look good on the outside and have a wreck at home.

Adequacy - vs. 4-5

Any confidence we have towards how that letter looks is because of Christ and not us.

Our adequacy comes from God.

That adequacy allows us to serve as servants of the new covenant

by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our marriages are the same, we need to rely on God and keep Him #1.

Our adequacy in our marriages have to come from the power of the Holy Spirit.

Glory - vs. 7-11, 12-15

vs. 7-11

The Ministry of the Spirit is more glorious comparing the Law with the Gospel

The glory that caused Moses to shine in God’s presence was fading and he tried to hide it so they wouldn’t know.

Sometimes in our marriages, if we’re not careful, God’s glory in us can begin to fade.

Similarly, the flame between couples can begin to fade, and we need to rekindle it.

Just like our flame with God can fade and we need to rekindle it.

vs 12-15

There is a hardness of heart that comes from the Law which is a fading glory.

We always talk about the honeymoon phase and then reality sets in.

What seemed shiny and perfect and good, all of sudden is dim and scarred and not so good.

Opposites attract - Sometimes what attracted us to the other person becomes the very thing that starts to drive a wedge in between.

An extrovert is attracted to an introvert. The extrovert loves the quiet mystery of the introvert and the introvert loves the excitement of the extrovert.

5 years later…the introvert can’t stand that the extrovert can’t slow down, and spend some one on one time with them and the extrovert complains because the introvert doesn’t want to go out and do anything, but stay at home.

The result if we’re not careful is a hardness of heart toward our spouse. Just like the Law causes a hardness of heart towards God.

Freedom - vs. 16-17

When one becomes a believer the hardness, like a veil is removed and glory begins to glow from inside the hardness.

That glory begins to break through and sets the believer free.

When we commit or recommit our marriages to God, God begins to break through the hardness of heart.

The Lord is the Spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.

Freedom to be who were created to be in our marriages.

Naked and Unashamed. Fully known and fully accepted and fully embraced.

Read 2 Corinthians 3:18-4:7

Transformation - vs. 18

But we are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord

Are being transformed into the same image

From glory to glory

From the Spirit

When we look in the mirror who do we see? Do we see Jesus?

Are we reflecting Jesus to the world? Back to the visibility of the letter earlier.

As we fix our gaze on Christ, He leads us and transforms us through the Holy Spirit.

If we keep our marriages fixed on Christ He transforms our marriages.

Truth - 4:1-2

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart.

God’s mercy is there for the taking in our marriages.

Mercy is not getting what you deserve.

It is also not giving the other person what they deserve.

God showed us mercy, we need to show mercy to our spouses.

As a result, we do not have to lose heart.

We can have hope in our marriages.

We have renounced the things hidden because of shame. Back to the Garden...

Sin - naked and unashamed

We do not walk in craftiness

like the serpent who was the most craft of the animals.

Adulterating the word of God

What did Satan do, but twist God’s Word in the Garden?

Like human nature and culture has regarding marriage and human sexuality

But by the manifestation of truth

The Gospel

Through Jesus Christ

Correct teachings on marriage and our oneness with Christ

In the sight of God, we leave the correctness and conviction of the teaching between your conscience and God.

When God appeared in the Garden, Adam and Eve hid from God’s sight.

If our teaching is correct, we do not have to be ashamed and we trust God to convict.

Veiled - Darkness - vs. 3-5

The Gospel is veiled by the fading glory and hardness of heart.

to those perishing

The god of this world has blinded the minds

of the unbelieving.

So they might not see the light

of the gospel

of the glory of Christ

the image of God

(Also - the light…the image of God would not dawn upon them)

In our marriages, can try to survive in the darkness with Satan in control, or...

Light - Glory - vs 6

But God says, “Light shall shine out of darkness...” (Gen 1:3) Back to Genesis.

has shone in our hearts.

to give the Light of the knowledge.

of the glory of God

in the face of Christ

God wants to speak light and life into our darkness and into our marriages.

He wants to shine brightly into the darkest corners of our lives and our marriages.

He wants us to know the freedom that Jesus brings to our lives and our marriages.

Isaiah 61:1–3 NASB95

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To grant those who mourn in Zion, Giving them a garland instead of ashes, The oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Treasure - vs 7

But we have this treasure in jars of clay

The Gospel and the truth about marriage.

Freedom, Forgiveness, and Flame of His glory, Flames of the Holy Spirit.

Jars of Clay in comparison to the Treasure - opposites

the value of the treasure vs. the relative worthlessness of the gospel’s ministers. Not that the ministers are worthless, it’s a comparison.

the permanence of the treasure vs. the fading glory of the vessel.

the beauty of the treasure vs. the unattractiveness of the bearer of light

the all-surpassing power and greatness vs. the fragility of the jar.

Why? So that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves.

So we remember it is not of our own work.

So we remember we didn’t earn it.

It’s not our perfection or wholeness, but what God is doing in and through us.

So that in the end, God gets the glory.

God’s power to transform us into the image of His Son.

The purpose is so that although we are a broken people, full of cracks and still covered with hardness,

God shines through as he transforms and softens us so that He can be glorified through our brokenness

We can shine because He is shining through us.

God Brings Strength And Healing Through His Brokenness And Into Our Brokenness.

1 Peter 2:24 NASB95

and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

The sacrifice of Christ for us. We are to sacrifice for our spouses. Opposite of what culture then and today says.

The dying to self and living to righteousness. We are to die to our own selfishness. Again opposite

The healing of our wounds. We are to be the vehicle of healing to and for each other. Not the instrument of hurt.

Many women have been deeply hurt by past experiences and many of them at the hands of the men in their lives.

Like Christ did the church, husbands are the God given way of bringing healing to their wives.

Likewise, many men have been hurt, by men, and a wife can bring healing to their husbands.

2 Corinthians 12:9–10 NASB95

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

It’s Through Our Brokenness That Others Can See The Glory Of God.

Back to the issue of being a visible letter of Christ.

Seeing the glory of God in a person or in a marriage:

That doesn’t require perfection, but authenticity

That doesn’t require having it all figured out, but humility

That doesn’t require being convincing, but rather sincerity

Otherwise we get accused of hypocrisy.

The only way we can do this is not because of any adequacy of our own, but because of God’s adequacy.

It also doesn’t mean we treat the grace of God as license.

It also doesn’t mean we excuse wrong behavior

It also doesn’t mean we wink at evil.

But rather we speak the truth in love, remembering from where we have come while keeping in mind to where we are going.

We Need To Let God’s Glory Shine Through Our Brokenness

This goes back to the manifestation of truth in vs. 2.

Philippians 2:15 (NASB95)

...so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

we are to be a lights in the world

we are to be above reproach

blameless and innocent

in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

1 Peter 2:12 NASB95

Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Matthew 5:16 NASB95

“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Is it your light or the light of Christ shining through you?

Is it your glory? Or the glory of God in the face of Christ?

Is it your treasure or His?

Is it your power or His?

Praise be to God that it is the surpassing greatness of His power transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ so that we can be the bride of Christ, His church, unblemished, holy, blameless, without wrinkle and glorious!

And because of that power, He transforms us so that we can be the husbands and wives we are called to be for His glory and honor and praise.

That we might be a light unto the world so that they, too might come to that light and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

God Brings Strength And Healing Through His Brokenness And Into Our Brokenness.

It’s Through Our Brokenness That Others Can See The Glory Of God.

We Need To Let God’s Glory Shine Through Our Brokenness

House of The Lord