I. Introduction
A. Review of Part 1- God’s Design for Marriage
1. Covenant Relationship- God’s design is that one man and one woman marry for as long as they are both alive.
2. Roles & Responsibilities- God has created both the roles of husband and wife each unique and special.
3. Partnership- When God designed a helper for Adam, it was to his benefit.
B. From Design to Desire
1. Many of the things we talked about two weeks ago revolved around the understanding of how God wants marriage to look, but what about what God wants marriage to feel like?
2. This morning, we will examine God’s desire for marriage.
II. God’s Desire for Marriage
A. – Intimacy
1. In creating the marriage covenant, God supplied man with a way to experience .
2. The reason that God creates woman, in His own words, is that it is not good for man to be alone.
a. We often skip to the next part in the account where God creates Eve, but that’s not what is actually next.
b. God has Adam name all the animals, but why?
c. He wanted to foster a longing for a partner in Adam (notice the end of verse 20).
d. When Adam sees Eve, he exclaims, “At last…” (verse 23 ESV & NASB give the true sense of what is intended).
e. Grasham reminds us that this exuberant, poetic statement by Adam is his first recorded speech.
3. Intimacy is not just about sexual fulfillment in marriage.
a. Intimacy is characterized by , connection, vulnerability, trust, and .
b. The “one flesh” of Genesis 2:24 is about more than just a physical, sexual connection. The God speaks of is, in part, about creating this intimacy in a marriage. (Matthew 19:6)
4. God’s desire for the covenant of marriage is that we have someone to share the entirety of our lives with; the good, the bad, the times of wealth, the times of poverty, etc.
B. – Meeting Needs
1. When God created Eve, He demonstrated His desire to make man .
2. A physical marriage is not required to be complete as a person; marriage is a choice, but the idea is to bring a person into another person’s life who wants to help fill in the gaps in another’s life.
3. This completion is seen in meeting our spouse’s .
a. Books like His Needs, Her Needs, and The Five Love Languages are great resources to help us understand how to care for our spouse’s needs.
b. In Willard Harley’s book, His Needs, Her Needs, he talks about the Love Bank. We all make deposits and withdrawals. If the account goes bankrupt, all we can expect is stress and issues. We need to make deposits as often as we can.
c. The Five Love Languages helps us figure out HOW to make the most profitable deposits by speaking the right kind of love language to our spouse.
d. When we try to make deposits into our spouse’s account, we might be losing some of the effect in the “exchange rate.” If we only offer love based on how we receive love, we might miss opportunities for our spouse to truly feel loved. That’s why it’s important to know your spouse’s love language.
4. In Ephesians 5:33, Paul concludes by addressing a couple of basic needs that husbands and wives have: men need respect, and women need security. The use of the word ἀγαπάω (agapaō) provides the sense of offering a self-sacrificing love that seeks the best for the wife, not the husband.
5. God’s desire for marriage is to find a place where we feel complete because our spouse cares for our .
C. – Spiritual Maturity
1. God’s desire is that husbands and wives help one another .
2. Illustration: The marriage triangle reminds us that God is a key part of a healthy marriage. As each person in the marriage seeks to grow closer to God, they grow closer to each other. Sometimes this won’t be perfect because no two people are perfect or may have individual struggles, but overall, this principle holds true.
3. Wives
a. 1 Peter 3:1-2 (wives)
b. Don’t make it harder for your husband to be a Christian.
4. Husbands
a. Ephesians 5:25-28
b. Men are to speak the Word into the lives of our family, especially into the lives of our wives.
c. We do this so that we can help her present herself before God. We can’t appear for her, but we can come alongside her on her spiritual journey.
d. 1 Peter 3:7
e. Don’t ever make it harder for your wife to be a Christian!
5. God has designed the marriage covenant with the intention of helping two people and become more like .
III. Conclusion
A. Chapel Story
B. Invitation