Life-Giving Marriage
Life-Giving Relationships • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsBased on the smalll group video series from Influence
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That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Marriage was God’s idea…all the way at the beginning of human history
Marriage was God’s idea…all the way at the beginning of human history
Read the bible and you will see that marriage is both demanding and life-giving
Look at marriages in our culture and you will see that marriage is often too demanding and without real life to sustain it.
It seems obvious that life-giving marriage needs to have a secret ingredient:
It involves the heart that is pursuing God and growing in Him
Marriage is a gift from God that illustrates our relationship with Him
Marriage is a gift from God that illustrates our relationship with Him
Do you know any couples that you would characterize as “unforgettable” or “the kind of marriage I want to have when I grow up!”?
What marriages have left the most profound impact on your life…positive or negative?
Here’s a difficult challenge for you:
Describe your spouse’s strengths with three descriptive terms.
We live in a culture where the divorce rate is about 50 percent among non-Christians and Christians alike
We live in a culture where the divorce rate is about 50 percent among non-Christians and Christians alike
God wants more for your marriage than just digging in and hanging on till the end
God wants more for your marriage than just digging in and hanging on till the end
God designed marriage not only to fulfill our desire for intimacy, but to provide a picture of His intimacy with His people. God’s ideal for marriage is oneness—a wonderful interdependence where we each give to the other — Life-Giving Relationships
LEARNING TOGETHER
LEARNING TOGETHER
The foundation for a true, life-giving marriage, comes from the Word of God
Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
What do these 3 phrases mean?
Leave his father and mother
united to his wife
...and the two shall become one flesh
After 50 years of marriage, how might these meanings have changed?
What is the appropriate role of parents in a life-marriage?
Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
What basic principles relating to marriage does this passage reveal?
Do you think it is harder for the husband to love or for the wife to submit? Why?
A parallel passage in tells husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church.
What does that kind of love look like, husband?
What do you think Paul means when he tells fathers no to “embitter” their children?
Wrap it up
Wrap it up
What have we discovered to be life-giving characteristics in a good marriage?
Personally, what one step (with the help of the Holy Spirit) could you take in order to become a more loving — life-giving — spouse?
List 2 or 3 things we can pray for in light of this discussion of life-giving marriage
How can our group pray for you tonight?