God’s Laboratories

Today on Senate life with Jamie Greer experiencing the beauty and the love of marriage. What I am getting is a case of the beauty of love of God is like. I gave it to me because he wanted me to be able to face and to feel and to sense his love in every way back to Senate life with Jeannie green or I'm your host Molly benefits. So if you ask most couples why they got married probably say something about being in love and making each other happy.

Work there being really open. They might even say something about physical attraction being the key and of course there's nothing wrong with any of those things, but today on Senate life Pastor JD degree reveals that God actually has a much bigger purpose for our marriages even more than our own happiness. Select finish the week strong with the first part of the message Pastor JD titled God laboratory title of our series that we are in and have been the end is called mystery and clarity because Ephesians shows you how the deepest mysteries of God, who he is and what he is been up to mysteries that we sometimes can't even really get our minds around. We can explain well that these very mysteries are the very things that bring clarity to our lives is a mystery and clarity well. We are nearing the end of this study of Ephesians we saw of the world that we live in is toxic to the development of Christian virtue, what we saw is that if we are going to make it spiritually them really have to fight tooth and nail to swim upstream, which means that we have to strive to learn and understand God's ways.

We got to strive to bring our hearts in line with his purposes and that we gotta take active control of her scheduled so that we give priority to the things that matter the most. None of these things happen naturally. It certainly done for me and evidently didn't happen naturally. For Paul, people of Paul's writing to the water was roaming on. This happens naturally that have metal friendships. That's why Paul says is a fight to war if you are not actively fighting this battle, you are losing this battle, you actively fighting well the end of Ephesians 5, Paul is going to give you another very important principle for spiritual growth actually think it's quite fascinating woman was fascinating all the Bible to me.

It is something that could change your life because it is something that God has put into your life 24 seven to teach you about himself. It's all around you everywhere and most of us have no concept that it's even there. Or the reason they put in their I and that is what is that thing that he is used to teach us about God.

That is our relationships. Paul takes three very common relationships, relationships that most of you will have be involved into not all three of these it takes marriage. He takes the nuclear family and then he takes work and he explains that these relationships are like laboratories that God has set up to make you like himself laboratories and a lot of medical people go here to our church. I got a lot of pharmacists will what we refer to a regular legalized drug dealers and right you know once all my MMM and in these guys use laboratories to work on products you get it right. The lab is for. I call the first sermon that I preacher on Saturday night. My lab sermon because what I'm doing it on Bridget in the way this testing out different things.

If they work was started. I know what I'm in the middle sermon it was all up in marks up but I got nothing out tomorrow because I totally flocked about the whole idea is I am working on it to create a masterpiece that you get here on Sunday morning right will we, the relationships you and I are in our laboratories.

God's laboratories that he uses to make us into the masterpiece that Ephesians 1 says that he has intended for us. So let me first review a couple of very important truths that we've already learned from Ephesians which undergird what I'm going to tell you today. These are so important. If you don't remember these are Debbie's not really understand how my walk is 30. These relationships are important principle number one God's main purpose for us.

We learned Ephesians 1 is Christ likeness. God's main purpose is Christ likeness. Ephesians 112 says that his primary purpose and salvation was to make us into people that would bring him glory.

And we would do that by becoming like him in every way. We would imitate him.

We would resemble him we would in every way be his sons and his daughter's loving what he loves reacting like he reacts. What do you like him as a process that theologians call sanctification that her segmentation is a big scary religious sounding word, but all it really means is making like God.

The process of segmentation is making you like God.

Second, we learned that God is sovereign, which means that nothing is outside of his control and he uses all things in our lives for that purpose. For the purpose of these 111 says quote God works all things according to the counsel of his will to accomplish. Verse 11 says his purpose in our lives and what was the purpose Christ likeness a lot more spots about what was that purpose likeness of God is usually all things in your lives for one purpose. Nothing is outside of his control all things. One purpose and that purpose is Christ likeness. Now in chapters 5 and six. He applies those two truths probe everything is purpose Christ likeness. He applies those to our relationships and shows us something fascinating and that is that been the most basic of human relationships. God is sovereignly at work like a scientist in a laboratory making us like himself, you write stuff down just as them. Here's the pieces God uses our relationships to teach us about himself and to make us like himself daughter's name is purposely don't send the breath of his control united to get that from one of these two truths. When you understand that he usually show you God uses our relationships to teach us about himself and the make us like himself is three examples working to spend most of our time on the first one.

More important than the actual examples that are going to give you is the principal behind these examples in the principal again is that God is using our relationships to teach us about himself and to make us like himself okay women enough intro. Let's get into the first one. Now it's now it's right. Verse 22 wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord for the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church's body and is himself. It's Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Verse 25 husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her in the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies is he who loves his wife is really loving himself for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body. Therefore, verse 31 a man shall leave his father and mother. This is a quote from Genesis to verse 25 with his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

This mystery is profound. Paul says, because I am saying that this actually refers to Christ and the church. In other words, God gave marriage, get this, God gave marriage to teach us about his love for us. It's not even that God look at marriage after he had made it and thought that's a great example of how I love people to limit uses as an analogy to help out when Dell God actually gave us something for the sole intention of let me use this to teach them about my love for them. God made it God designed it. Marriage to teach us about himself now have least three ways. How is it that marriage teaches us about God. Three ways. We'll start with the most fun tomorrow wasting my thing okay number one only one in the delights of marriage we get a taste of the beauty of God. Verse 32 tells us that CS Lewis said about 50 years ago analogy I use your quite a bit. He said that marriage to him was like a ray of sunshine that shined upon his face that when the rate hits your face.

You don't just focus on the rate you look back up along the rate to the source.

That's the way marriage is. To me it is a ray of the sunshine of God's love.

All he was doing was really summarizing what Jonathan Edwards had said 400 years ago when Jonathan Everett says that marriage is the Ray God's love is the son marriage is the symbol God's love is the reality marriage is the stream God's love is the ocean and experiencing the beauty and the love of marriage. What I am getting is a taste of the beauty and love of God is like. I gave it to me because he wanted me to be able to taste and to feel and to sense his love in a very tangible way is the love of God that is pictured in marriage that makes marriage so beautiful its wife's most so many people cry at weddings. You girls you cry at weddings with you guys watch the wedding channel you get all teared up when you want to know what a general this is why this is why you may not know it, even though a lot of people realize this is a lot of people have no interest in God at all.

That marriage is a beautiful event because when they realize it or not, what they're experiencing in that moment is a little picture of God's love.

God's type of love and that's what makes it beautiful marriage pictures.

A love that every human being was created for. It is a lover to human beings become more literally.

Sexually there is a fusion of bodies. It is a love that is exclusive because because she is completely mine and I am completely ours is a love that is unconditional.

Every human being. As I've explained you before every human being has the desire to be known and loved right.

We want to be known and loved to have one without the other and and and have real love because if you're known but not loved. That's rejection. Reisman really knows you and love you. They've rejected you, but if somebody loves you dumbly know you. That's just superficiality. So we have a desirous human beings to be known and loved. But that leaves us with a dilemma that meant because when people actually know us better want to love us human beings have we call the porcupines dilemma. Writer porcupines need love too. Porcupines will be close. They want to snuggle that one spoon 25,000 poisonous quails join support you by doing when it's time to close to the port you bind it's like to get you close without lacerating you, human beings have that same issue. Marriage is a picture of you know love because I know you I know your flaws. I know your weaknesses and I love you and it is beautiful that is shadowed in marriage, but the reality that it points to is beyond itself.

The love of God, and I know we got people here that you like a little interested in God but yet us up about marriage that moves you. That's why it is whispering in your heart and calling out to you for a love that you were created for. This is so very important. What I'm about to say you should let marriage teach you about God's love. But you cannot let marriage replace God's love in your life. You cannot look to someone else to do what only God can do when you look to someone in the place of God.

They will disappoint you. The way I explain this a lot in premarital counseling as a Savior you got a guy who was floating in a sea of loneliness and insecurity and despair is drowning in his own, you know, kind of insecurities along by hallelujah Jehovah jar along by flows of 5 foot to blotted a life preserver. Salvation from the insecurity and he grabs a hold of her and he sucks the life out of her because she was not designed to rescue him from that ocean. I can say this is a happily married man who married way over his head. Nobody really argues about that that lonely, insecure, obsessive, single people become lonely, insecure, obsessive, married people's problems like loneliness, insecurity, and all those things are never cured by another human being or cured by God. If you cannot be happy as a single person. You will not be happy as a married person. She might as well give it up right.

You do not need a relationship with a perfect man, you need a relationship with a gracious God. That's what you're looking for here is number two limiting the roles of marriage we had a picture of the image of God in the roles of marriage we get we arose in marriage we get a picture of the image of God not warning this is deep very and highly controversial. Okay.

Fools rush in.

What we learn from Genesis is that man and woman are both created in the image of God but differently. And this is what Paul is reminding them of in this passage that they are different on purpose to reveal different aspects of the image of God.

When God looked at man in the Garden of Eden and he said man is alone that is not good.

He didn't fix that problem by creating somebody exactly like the man because that would've been not good not good okay twice not good. So what he did was he created something that complemented the man that completed what was left out each of the man and woman is created differently to reveal a complementary aspect of the image of God. And when the two come together in marriage you get a fuller picture of the image of God than you do when one is alone. Verse 23.

Look at that says the husband plays the role of the head of the wife like Christ is the head of the church and is himself its Savior, which means he is to leave her like God leads his people and in leading her. She gets to experience God's leadership is like like a ray of the sun.

She gets to experience something of God in his leadership and you the man get to experience what it's like to love and to lead like God when you study Genesis, you find that there are at least four ways that man was clearly designated to be the leader in our relationship determined just to meet us walking back through Genesis to the person you see is that he was to be a leader and provision before woman was ever created man has a job in the garden is working and she is brought into that relationship where he is working and producing fruit from the garden. In other words, he has a job.

Girls here this eternal got a job is a bad student stay away from him.

You want to live with him and his mom's basement sleep on Star Trek sheets when you're 40 I am but staying some of you it probably needs to think, so nothing to say things different people get walk out and always will exhibit no matter what I said I don't think anybody would walk out during that moment right there I met about them and wait for a minute number two really spiritually healing spiritually. When a woman is created. The man already has a relationship to God and she is brought into its notice that the commands given about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil had already been given to man, and evidently the man was supposed to tell her what those commands were and to leave her in obeying them. The man is to leave the woman spiritually. Paul reminds them of that here. Verse 26 he says to the husband. It's your role, husband to help your wife live faultless before God as to leave my family in a way that doesn't leave my wife to materialism or self-sufficiency or pride or apathy or gossip.

God holds me responsible for.

When I first got married, I thought I was supposed to have no secrets in my marriage.

And that's true but I thought that what that meant was all just was to tell my wife everything about about everybody hate you were very visible. One place for the no gossiping rule doesn't apply. Just be honest about my feelings but here's the problem right then change the fact that I was revealing a genuine lack of love for other people in a genuine's ride, which is never okay and even worse, I was leaving, and causing my wife to think bad thoughts about others. As I gossiped to them about them to our I have to answer to God for that. God told me responsible.

I have to help protect her heart and shepherd. Her heart like Tony Evans, the African-American preacher says spiritual headship is God telling the woman to dock so we can punch the man God holds me responsible for the spiritual temperature in my family member three we see the lead in romance lead in romance.

The first human words recorded in the Bible were that of the man composing a love poem about his wife. Genesis 226 the man says after woman is created. This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh sound that romantic.

He seen a naked woman for the first time ever cut them some slack. Okay you have time to come up with several revisions of the poem, but in Hebrew it is clear this is poetry. It is a song. Better yet is a love song girls. He is supposed to take the lead in relationships. What was wrong for a girl to ask a guy out.

Put it this way, if you don't have the spine to ask you out. He's probably not a leader in romance. The rest of your life. Fair gotten man enough to ask my daughter out. I don't expect you to be men of the leader spiritually either free of Michael J. Almost number four in sacrifice and start right here in Ephesians, you see that he is a lover like Christ loves the church which is not in any way domineering. Let me control you and use you kind of leadership but the kind of leadership that puts her needs above his own.

The kind of leadership that comes not to be served but to serve my Jesus, the kind of leadership that is the first to forgive the first to absorb wrongdoing in the first respond with grace will come back to that point is in these four ways husband. This is what you should hear your wife learns about God from you and you were supposed to learn to be like God is you love her and leave her.

We want men to lead this church. We want you Genesis you find the mess we got ourselves and came from man, not leading spiritually. I know that when you begin to lead in your homes men you will find that the whole temperature of everything changes. Once you lead spiritually.

I'm so we need to stop being deadbeats and believers that God designed you to be wife wife. What is your role, your to play the role of the church.

How is the woman like the church.

This is an encouragement. Verse 24. Life is like the charts in that she submits like no he didn't. Yes he did okay. That's economic to the podium is bulletproof. She submits which means a she surrenders her ambitions to his.

She surrenders her ambitions to his helpers. 23 says the man is the head. This says that she in the same way ceases to be the head of her own life. That means she ceases to build her own kingdom and yields herself to building her husband and her families kingdom.

This is my wife like she is in many ways smarter than me.

She graduated better better universities. Yet a higher SAT score which he has given up any visions of her own kingdom to live for my kingdom and deliver the kingdom of my family. The squares on the Bible is not against women in careers but is against those who do so at the expense of the unity of God and the rules that we have in marriage image of God, a new perspective from Pastor Jenny Greer today on Senate life to hear this program again or to download and studied the free unedited transcript. Visit us@jennygreer.com and while you're there, you can also browse through previous studies or visit Pastor Jenny's blog for the latest relevant articles we live making these resources available to you free of charge so that everyone can dive deeper into the message of the gospel with outcasts getting in the way when you donate to really getting to your fellow listeners and making it possible for Jenny's teaching to be heard all across the country, even around the world and as our way of saying thanks for your gift today. We created an exclusive new resource based on our current study here in the program. It's a personal Bible study called mystery and clarity. The book of Ephesians active questions and insightful commentaries will help you walk. Verse by verse through the book of Ephesians we let the game a copy of this Bible study today for mystery and clarity. When you donate level at $25 and by calling 835-2866 335-5220. Forgive and request a copy online clear.com lying on the website. Ministry update information about new resources Street here in my free to subscribe to JD clear.com and Molly that events letting you join us today a wonderful weekend of worship here on Monday for Senate life by Jenny Greer ministry