Counter Culture The Gospel & Marriage Genesis 1-3

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Counter Culture The Gospel & Marriage Genesis 1-3, Eph 5 Tonight we look at the Gospel & Marriage. (two places tonight – Genesis 1-3 & Eph. 5) Marriage is a mystery….The Bible says as much in Eph. 5:31-32….”A man shall leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery.” I’ve been married 16 years and I would say AMEN – Kidding… Our hope tonight is this - that we understand greater what God has set into motion. marriage is no longer a mystery and we find our hope, answer and Main Idea in Eph. 5 that marriage finds it’s meaning and purpose in and through the Gospel When we find this meaning and purpose of marriage it clears the air. So, we go to God’s Word for meaning….we have this opportunity to understand marriage. To support it, fight for it, represent it and honor it. No doubt the hot topic is same sex marriage…that’s not the heart of tonight. The heart of tonight is understanding the Gospel and Marriage. Marriage is under attack from all around…..so we must find truth….sharpen truth. Same sex marriage got real in 2013 when the Supreme Court made provisions to the law that opened the gate to totally redefining marriage. Now we opened the legal part of it…believers began getting loud. rightfully so…. But we need to be real – Marriage has been under attack since the beginning. Marriage has been misrepresented since the beginning. When the snake went to Eve it was attacked. Same sex marriage is not the main issue of our day…it’s a result of a bigger issue. Same sex marriage is the next issue revealed, and likely the biggest change to marriage we’ll see. Our parents and grandparents never even thought something like this would happen. Lord help if there’s something worse than this? What’s next? Same sex marriage is the result of years and years and years of an unhealthy view and thinking about marriage/life. the thinking that there is no absolute truth is the reason we’re here. Sin is the issue, unbelief. People didn’t set out to redefine marriage, they set out to do their own thing…marriage was the next thing. Same sex marriage is the fruit of Romans 1:25, folks exchanging the truth about God for a lie it’s what we see today. But we need to know there’s more dirt under this rug than this one issue. So I hope we’re prepared to deal with us rather than simply gaining ammunition to attack the world. We saw weeks ago that homosexuality is a sin due to our inability to fully understand the Gospel and Sexuality. Sexual sins are a result of a bad view of God and His Word. Andrew reference Romans 1 as well. So, one result of that is homosexuality. We’ve redefined what sexuality looks like. There are many more results of this bad view though right? Homosexuality is the glamorous one. We’ve done this with life really….we have God’s plan and design and then men have distorted that view and we have a book full of distortions that have now filled our culture. Just like we have redefined and made up our own rules about sexuality we’ve done the same thing with marriage. Again, this started in Gen. 3 (trace it all back to there) Take this to marriage. There are many results of a bad view of marriage….anybody remember Archie Bunker? How about all you DALLAS FANS? Married with Children? You soap opera watchers….not too many good examples there….same sex marriage is just the glamorous result of a bad view of marriage. Think about the overall view of marriage today in our culture? among those who are married, among students and children – Marriage today has been redefined but it’s just in the form of same sex marriage is it? Think about the shows you watch and let in to the forming of your families theology? We say what we believe to be true about God and His Word, about sexuality, human trafficking and marriage but then we silently support what the world is putting out don’t we? Do we really have to dig that far in? leave that stuff alone right? There are many things threatening Biblical marriage but same sex marriage is the banner believers take up to chew on because Divorce, abuse, unhealthy marriages, spouse role reversal are too close to home. But these too are fruits of a distorted view of marriage and ultimately God’s Word.

BUT LISTEN – Don’t quit on me yet – there’s hope for everyone…we’ve all made mistakes in life/marriage. So we need to get back to some basics. We need to counter this thinking, this view, this reality now in our country that marriage can be redefined. Can it? Is marriage important? Is marriage just the legal and Biblical way for us to have sex or join up our money or have kids to live our life through? Who are we to say that two men can’t get married? Who are we to deny love? Is there a standard for Marriage? we settle with this question. What does the Bible say about Marriage? This is always the question – What does the Bible say about this? MAIN IDEA:

Marriage finds it’s meaning and purpose in and through the Gospel

1. How does the Bible define marriage? (Genesis 1-3, Eph. 5:22-33) To begin thinking about how the Bible defines marriage we go to the beginning - Turn to Genesis 1 – follow the story. • • • • • •

IN the beginning God creates the heavens and the earth. He creates and everything is good. He gets to man and all of sudden it’s not good……what’s not good? That he be alone But He’s not alone…all these created things are around him….and he gets to name them all. I love dogs…I love animals….but I realize animals are not companions like other humans are. Adam needed a helper. The only other created being that would be sufficient would be another image bearer of God. Something an animal could not accomplish. So God creates EVE…now we have Male and Female. a helper fit for man READ GEN. 2:23-25

What happens next is big – the 1st attempt of redefining marriage occurs. In Genesis 3 we see the serpent, satan, enter on the scene and confuses the role within marriage that would cause sin to enter into the world. We see Satan throw a wrench in Gods design in verse 1 (did God actually say?) the lie – God is withholding something good from you….sound like Romans 1? From Gen. 3 to Romans 1 until now men and women have struggled with sin & questioning the Creator. Genesis 3 is the original redefinition of marriage. But we see the definition of marriage…..a man and a woman. Two image bearers together for the purpose of reflecting God’s glory and to fill the earth with other image bearers. our good, his glory, eventually the Gospel. But sin entered….the image was dirtied….but God’s redemptive plan to restore was in action. It was promised in Gen. 3:15 – the seed of this fallen women would crush the head of the serpent. Fast forward through the Old Testament and the coming of the Messiah, and the life of Christ and the cross, the tomb and the church and then finally in Ephesians 5 we see the explanation….Jesus, the truer and better, brings the true meaning and purpose of marriage. This is a meaning and a purpose that could not be understood until the fulfillment of the Scriptures through Jesus and the Gospel. (Turn and read Eph. 5:22-33) Marriage is a reflection of the Gospel…of God’s love for us and how we live in fellowship with Him. Marriage finds it true meaning and purpose in and through the Gospel. The connection is that the husband loves his wife as Christ loved the church a breathtaking picture of Christ giving everything he has for the good of the bride, church. he takes responsibility and leads and is ready to lay aside his rights and eventually his life for the sake of her. Christ surrenders. The husband surrenders and lays his life down for his bride. The connection is continues that the wife loves her husband as the church loves and follows Christ. the church gladly submits to a loving husband, Christ who loves, leads, serves, protects, and provides for his bride. The bride submits. The wife follows the leadership of the husband. This is the mystery…Christ was the missing piece. This is the meaning and purpose of marriage. Marriage, as God defined, is a picture of the Gospel: To portray Christs’ love for the church and the church’s love for Christ on the canvas of human culture. The greatest mission of a Biblical Marriage is to live out the vows of a biblical marriage. (to show the gospel in action) You don’t get married to make more money, or to not live alone or to just have sex or to just fill in the blank… these things happen but they are not the chief reasons…. We are in a covenant marriage to display the Gospel. What is happening in culture is that as marriage is redefined and the Gospel is being forgotten. (not seen) Same sex marriage is but one way we’ve tarnished this amazing opportunity to live the Gospel.

2. How does Culture define marriage? What is the distortion? I think we know this don’t we? We see it daily. We see the front-page headlines. Culture distorts and redefines marriage when God’s plan is set aside and Jesus is taken out. When you take Christ out, marriage goes back to being a mystery. the standard is not if you get along, be productive, don’t’ get divorced. the standard is Eph. 5 The distortion is not an imperfect marriage. I fail daily the distortion is when Christ, the Gospel, is not the answer to that imperfection. same sex marriage is not the lone wolf but it is the most extravagant. We can cry out against same sex marriage all we want but until we begin honoring God’s plan for marriage in our own lives our voices are minimal and our stand is shaky at best. None of us in this room are perfect pictures of this….so we evaluate. How am I distorting God’s plan for Marriage to my neighbors? Do I submit? Do I surrender? Am I honoring God and sharing the Gospel in my marriage? 3. How do we Counter Cultures distorted view of marriage. The first place we go is not facebook but to our knees (we seek the face of God and we pray) I’m really sick of people slaying same sex marriage and then defiling it in another “small” way. we all need hope daily, we all must die to self and seek the face of God. let them see your failures but let this point to Christ – don’t act perfect, cause you ain’t!..SO… A. See the need for the Gospel in your own life – except for the grace of God where would I be. I see this and I cling to this. And then I go and we walk out our vows. Whatever your hurt, hang up or issue the Gospel is enough. Jesus is enough. Rather than pointing to a speck, work on your own eye - Am I honoring God in my marriage?. This is the greatest way for us to counter culture – give them a clear picture of the Gospel in your own marriage. And listen – there is no one in this room who has it all right – we all have major issues. So what we do is we determine in our heart to wage war on this sin to shine brighter the glory of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So don’t leave down and defeated….leave full of hope that the God of this universe hears your heart and has the remedy in Jesus Christ. And as I leave I…… B. Work hard to honor God in your marriage. Let’s say this too. I work hard to honor God in my life. Not all here are married…but we recognize the war of marriage is wider than marriage. It’s a war on what God has declared as good and right and men are distorting that . So honor God. So if you’re here and not married….you strive to honor God in your life. Show and Share the Gospel! Hebrews 13 begins with a list of sacrifices that are pleasing to God. Love one another, show hospitality, remember those in prison and then this…Honor Marriage. Marriage isn’t easy, so we work hard at it, we fight, we labor, we submit, we surrender, we respect and cherish it     this is narrow gate living – it’s not a cakewalk….   Thankfully the story didn’t end in Genesis 3….when marriage was attacked God didn’t take long to communicate that He Had a plan and that He would prevail in Genesis 3:15 God was there in the midst of that moment and the hope of the Gospel was seen. God is here now in the midst of this moment. And now we have the opportunity to paint a picture for the world to see the gospel and what Biblical marriage looks like. There is hope in the Gospel to display the gospel in your life and in your marriage There is hope when we get sideways, as we fail, in marriage and in life. It doesn’t matter what a judge says, a politician says, or what our neighbor says, What matters is what God has said From this issue to the next issue we must stand firm on what God has said to be true. We embrace Gods plan for marriage in light of Jesus and the Gospel and then we display that on the canvas of our lives. Let your voice be heard but more than that, let your life be seen! (RESOURCES AND BOOKS) - maybe we can finish in prayer together (families get together) no one alone! Get John from back