Adult Sunday School - Marriage And Christ Earthly Ministry

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning and pray that you would bless our study of your word and What you say of salvation and its relation to marriage.

We pray that you would give us wisdom in Jesus name. Amen All right so last time we started going through the

Historia Salutis, which is the history of salvation and then Taking that and applying it to marriage

If indeed Paul says for the husband is the head of the life as Christ also is the head of the church

Being himself the Savior of the body that indicates that the salvation

That Christ provides in that union between Christ and the church is supposed to instruct us about marriage

It's worth looking at that salvation of Christ and asking ourselves What might this imply about marriage?

And so last time we looked at election and calling this time. We're going to be looking at Christ's earthly ministry now when

I Wrote all this out I Am not certain.

Okay, so there's a there's a break point here where if I'm afraid we won't we won't have finished our time

But at the same time we won't have enough time to go into his offices of prophet priest and King Yet, we'll see.

We'll see what happens when we get there whether or not we'd save that for next time or try to Try to go into it

But while election happens before the foundation of the world and God has been calling people ever since the beginning ever since the fall

His incarnation Christ's incarnation happened at a particular time And this this likewise has implications for marriage.

So let's start there any questions before we get started I Know I'm I'm going off of because because this has taken a lot more

Research and work. I'm going off a lot more nudes than I usually do and that may mean that I'm just kind of talking more with a

Kind of a train that can't be stopped, but feel free to raise your hand and ask questions if you want to yes

Well, we've been studying marriage for several weeks right and and We looked at the union between God and the church or and sorry in Israel and the

Old Testament and all the all the marriage analogies that are used there including the

Song of Solomon and Psalm 45 and then we looked at that also in the New Testament and then after after that we looked particularly at Ephesians 5 and what it says and that that analogy is not just a an arbitrary observation

By Paul where he's like, oh look this thing is like this thing He's saying that there really is an organic connection between the two and that the reason why

God gave us marriage is as an illustration of Christ in the church and so if that is if that's the case and specifically

This union being found in salvation Let's walk through salvation and see what implications are for marriage the last time election and calling which have the implications for how?

Man would choose his wife and and the role of the wife also in and choosing a husband

And so this time We're looking at the incarnation Or in Christ's earthly ministry in general

All right so First of all Christ in a sense departed from his heavenly home

So Jesus is On the present on top of being on the present

We should never suggest that there's any kind of separation and the Godhead or any separation between The father and son as some might do all the same scripture decides to Anthropomorphically, you know as a man describe the eternal

Son of God Coming to earth as a leaving of heaven and as leaving his heavenly father now like I said, he's on the present that is not a

It's not as though that That position was lost in any sense

Yet Jesus himself speaks this way For I have come down from heaven.

This is John 638 for I've come down from heaven not to do my own will But the will of him who sent me so he comes down from heaven

John 16 28 I came out of the father and have come into the world Again I leave the world and go to the father the idea of being.

Oh, I was here I came here and now I'm here and I'm going back And so this is also implied by the notion of God giving his son to the world for God So loved the world that he gave his own begotten son that whoever believes on him should not perish but have eternal life

That is of course John 3 16 Yes, so the father doesn't doesn't really lose him in any sense

Regardless if we are to speak of what does it mean for us to have this gracious God who gives of himself and yet is dispossessed of nothing, you know, how do you how do you describe that action?

Well, if you're going to describe it in a way that makes sense to Humans, it makes sense to speak of it as a giving or as a leaving or as a as a losing

Even though it's not it's not truly a loss in that whole is them Yes Right.

Yes. Yeah that that too, right. He talks about him leaving and And that that would imply that yes, there was also a coming the thing is it on one hand it makes sense because he has

A you know now he has a he has a human body And so that human body really did leave the earth.

The interesting thing is he talks about even before he had a body You know when he talks about him him leaving heaven

That's not as a body, you know as a human leaving heaven that's talking about just his person

Leaving heaven, even though there once again really is no loss, but it's pictured this way for us Okay, and What would the implication this be?

Well, this is a this is a core part of what marriage is is a leaving of the home You don't normally think of that as being the main thing involved in marriage

But that's really like part of the definition that scripture gives every time it requotes genesis 224 it quotes that Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and will be joined to his wife and they will be one flesh

Yeah, so this is not actually a minor part of marriage This is a significant part of marriage now one may argue back that well

Christ remains in his father's household In fact, he even went back to the father as we've read in those passages

John 14 2 says and my father's house are many mansions if it were not So I would have told you before I go to prepare a place for you

So Let me make sure I have my phone so I don't So don't lose track of time actually,

I've got my laptop here that will do I'll be good enough Okay All right, so but that's not out of line with the picture in Genesis if you look through Genesis Even though just as 224 talks about the man leaving his father and mother what you see that look like is not a you know a

Separating from all kind of proximity to father and mother or leaving the father's estate in fact

A lot of times it involves remaining part of the father's estate so that you can gain the inheritance that will come from the father

So just going through a few passages in Genesis Genesis 31 30 and now though you want to be gone because you this is

I believe Laban speaking to Jacob Because you longed greatly after your father's house yet. Why have you stolen my gods?

right, and so this is Laban speaking to Jacob talks about him him leaving because he longs to go to his father's house.

So he's taking his His family back to his father's house. And yet this is not at odds with leaving father and mother

Genesis 50 22 and Joseph dwelt in Egypt. He and his father's house and Joseph lived 110 years.

So He remaining with his father's house and yet having left father and mother

As he is a married married man at this point so yeah, as such it's reasonable to see

Christ coming from heaven to earth as a as a picture of That same of that same thing that we see in human marriage a leaving father and mother now in addition in considering the incarnation we see the humility of Christ, so He becomes man he gives up a a

Status in a sense once again, it's not really as though a status is actually lost But it is pictured in this way for us

Philippians speaks of this as an emptying of himself a kenosis. That's the Greek word

Philippians 2 6 who existing in the form of God counted not the being Yeah, okay, sorry the

ASB says this weird counted not Equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied himself taking the form of the servant being made in the likeness of men

And in Hebrews we see that he was made temporarily lower than the angels But we behold him who has been made a little lower than the angels

Jesus because of the suffering of death Crowned with glory and honor that by the grace of God. He should taste death for every man

Okay, so naturally this speaks of the loving sacrifice that Paul Requires of husbands and an

Ephesians 5 Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for it

So that giving up of himself does not just refer to the just that moment on the cross

But there was there were many acts of humility including the incarnation itself being part of his being part of his humility and I'm trying to remember we have one particular catechism question that addresses that as well

But this is that this is part of his his humility is Just him being born in the likeness of man and especially in the manger, etc

All right, so yeah, even the incarnation itself is is motivation or a

Picture that we should look at and see that husbands should be especially sacrificial for their wives

All right Yeah, and one once again it might seem like this is odd remember back when we

When we talked about how to interpret Ephesians 5 I mentioned that Christ is an incarnational title.

And so It would be wrong to take some of these statements about Christ in the church

There are different ways. It's wrong to apply it first It's wrong to overly apply it to individuals right because it's

Christ in the church not Christ and the church member that are you know Married, you know, I'm not Personally, I'm married to Christ.

It's the church that's married to Christ the other thing that is that would be problematic is to Apply these things to the divinity of Jesus when it's primarily

Christ is primarily an incarnational title It's talking about him as the anointed one. It's primarily talking about his humanity

So here it might seem odd because when he is Becoming incarnate.

He is he is not human when he you know, quote -unquote goes to earth

So is it right to apply this? Well, it's the it's the person of Christ that we're speaking up here So we're not really talking about the the humanity of him or the deity of him so much as we're talking about the person of Christ sacrificially

Engaging in that act of humility for the sake of the bride All right now moving on to discipleship okay, so as Christ grew to Mature years.

He began his earthly ministry and this is not just a Precursor to the atonement, you know, it's not just that.

Okay. Well, the church doesn't exist yet That's not going to exist until Pentecost. There's no there's no kingdom yet.

That's not going to exist until the resurrection There's no victory yet. That's not going to exist until then as well

Jesus speaks very differently about these things He does speak of of the church as being established and existing even in the

Gospels prior to his his death and resurrection Matthew 16 18 He says and also

I say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it and He gives commands that presume the establishment of the church as well

Matthew 18 17 and if he refused to hear them tell it to the church and if he refused to hear the church also let him be to you as the

Gentile and the tax collector and speaking of the Victory that was already possessed even before the gospel was accomplished just in the proclamation of the gospel as its first being preached

Luke 10 18 and he said to them I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven. I don't believe this is talking about him you know, uh some people interpret this as Jesus a long time ago saw the fall of the angels or or something like that What he's talking about in context is when the disciples go out and proclaim the gospel

Satan has lost power as the gospel is of the kingdom is being proclaimed All right

And then he also explains that the kingdom is already present even prior to his declaration as King through the resurrection

Luke 17 20 and being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God comes

He answered them and said the kingdom of God does not come with observation Neither will they say behold here or there for behold the kingdom of God is within your midst

Okay, so Okay, so the church that kingdom that victory is already existing during this time of the gospel

So it's not anachronistic to look at the union between Christ and the church at this time, right so far

We've been talking about preparatory things that Christ is doing for the sake of some some union to be had

But now as we get into the heart of the Gospels Is it right to talk about an actual? Union between Christ and the church and it is because he does not he does not talk about the church as being just some future thing it is something that Exists then

Okay. All right, and so we have Not just Christ's departure from his

So during his earthly ministry, not just a departure from that heavenly home like we talked about in his incarnation But a departure from his earthly home in mark 3 33

And he answers them and says also I'm reading from the ASV But just an interesting thing about translations that you may not know just like in English We often do this when we tell stories

Sometimes we'll tell them in present tense and we'll say, you know And there I was at the store and I grabbed the soda, you know

I just switched from past tense to present tense, right? They they did that too back then and a lot of the

Gospels are written that way And if you I don't know what the ESV does but in the NASB they have an asterisk

That that marks every time they just went ahead and changed the past tense to make it easier for you to read but But really they're switching back and forth between past and present tense and the

ASV which is what I'm reading from just goes ahead and Leaves it that way. So that's why it may might sound a bit odd to your ears

Mark 3 33 and he answers them and says who is my mother and my brothers and looking around on those who sat around him

He says behold my mother and my brothers for whoever will do the will of God. He is my brother and sister and mother

So Wow, you know, he still cared about his earthly family They are no longer his primary family as he is as he is proclaiming the gospel as he's establishing the church

He is he is saying, you know, who are my mother and my brothers? These are my mother and my brothers these the ones who do the will of the father these are my mother and my brothers and so there is a

So there's a departure from his earthly family to embrace that union between him and the church right, and so the the implication is

Like I said, he still cared about his family, but if those are ever at odds one is primary and Yeah, there are many couples that live under the thumb of their parents and they haven't really separated as they ought and that ends up hampering the the fruitfulness of the marriage or the flourishing of it and Yeah couples need to be willing to make good on that fundamental separation such that if those those families are ever at odds the new family formed by the new union is the is the primary one which has precedence over the other yeah,

I'm familiar with a a particular case where Someone wanted to marry a

Woman but the the parents were very hostile about the the Christian faith His parents were very hostile about the

Christian faith. And so the advice from his elders was we would support you in marrying her but you have to be willing to to break off contact because you know, they were like physical threats of violence very real ones to not just you know not just Incredible ones they were credible threats of violence and things and so you have to be willing to break off from your parents if you are going to To marry this woman and he wasn't he decided he wasn't willing to break off from them

So he he didn't marry her but which is I think that's a sad move but uh

Yeah, it is it is needed sometimes To have the full separation where there's no communication.

That's not always what's necessary you know, sometimes there's other kinds of separation that are appropriate but Yeah, that that new family has to become primary

Now it's not merely the case that Jesus departs from father and mother but also the disciples do as well.

And this is something that It's featured pretty Prominently at the beginning of Jesus ministry as he's calling the initial twelve disciples

Mark 1 19 says and going on a little further He saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who also were in the boat mending the nets

And immediately called to them and they left their father Zebedee and the boat with the hired servants and went after him

All right So you see the disciples leaving their father in order to follow after Jesus and this is it ends up being a rule that he

Applies for all his disciples saying that they must even hate their own families in order to follow him you know once again that hatred not necessarily being a

You know abdication of all love but rather a

Relative love that says that This new family is primary above that above that old family and any competing love must be abandoned

Luke 14 26 if any man comes to me and Hates not his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters

Yes, and his own life. Also. He cannot be my disciple He requires us of his disciples to leave their fathers and mothers

Matthew 10 38 5 where I came to set a man at variance against his father and the daughter against her mother and the daughter -in -law

Against her mother -in -law and a man's foes Will be those of his own household

He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he who loves son or daughter more than me is

Not worthy of me. So this is a requirement in order to Be united with Christ to abandon father and mother

Or to be willing to abandon them and then he also states this is forming a new family

Matthew 19 27 Actually, it'd be good maybe if we could get some of these longer readings if we could get volunteers

Does someone want to read a Matthew 19? 27 through 29 Do we have a do also do we have a microphone?

Thanks 27 through 29 9

All right Then Peter said in reply see we have left everything and followed you what then will we have

Jesus said to them truly I say to you in the new world when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for my namesake will receive a

Hundredfold and will inherit eternal life All right, so what's the result of leaving behind their family?

Right is that they gain a new family. Okay, so the the separation Causes the formation of a new family

All right. Now could somebody else read John 19 26 or 27? Yes, please

Sorry, that was yes, John 19 26 or 27 26 or 27

When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by whom he loveth

He said unto his mother woman behold thy son Then saith he to his disciple behold thy mother and from that hour that disciple took her into his own home.

Okay. Thank you All right Anybody ever wondered about the significance of that anybody want to try to explain what

Jesus is saying, you know This is one of those sayings on the cross Traditionally, it's been counted as seven different sayings on the cross what does this one mean where he he points to his mother woman behold your son and He's John is the disciple whom he loved right woman behold your son.

Then he says to the disciple. That's John behold your mother What is the yeah, what's the implication of that?

Okay Okay loyalty, yeah, yeah, this is this is your new family what is being established through the cross is this is this new family where John the disciple and Mary Jesus's mother are

Bonded by a family bond that is even stronger than Jesus to his own mother by earthly ties, right?

Everyone imagines Everyone Roman Catholicism, you know imagines Mary to be so blessed and have such ties to Jesus through You know her burying him in her womb

But what Jesus is saying is that's not a that's not a significant tie You know blessed be the blessed be the warm womb that bore you and the breast that nurse you blessed rather of those who do the will of the

Father right and Yeah, and Mary did you know, she's a sister but But that connection is shared by all of us, you know, it's not by the fact that she bore him

All right. Now I mentioned a second ago that we want to avoid overreading

Individual relationships with Christ because we're not individually related to Christ when we're talking about the disciples leaving father and mother

Is it right to think of it that way? Well, what we see is that this is spoken of corporately as well

Psalm 45, which we've talked about the significance of that before Psalm 45 being a a

Abbreviation it's not the right word an abridgment an abridgment of the

Song of Solomon and a lot of ways says Listen to a daughter and consider and incline your ear speaking to the wife of the of the king whom she's marrying

Forget also your own people and your father's house You know, this is the this is the call to the bride and Psalm 45 is forget your people forget your father's house

And so the people are supposed to leave their earthly families behind for this heavenly family

And Remember also that Psalm 45 is the one that's quoted in Hebrews 1 the one that says

Your throne of God is forever and ever etc. So Hebrews 1 acknowledges that this is talking about Jesus Christ and And if it's talking about Jesus Christ, it's certainly talking about the union between him and the church because that is his bride

Since this is a wedding a wedding poem. And yeah, so that called to forget your own people applies to the church

Right, yeah, yeah that book

Jesus calling that Yeah, we're this woman claims to have actually had visions of Jesus and to him to have spoken to her and she records all this

It's unfortunately very popular, but Yesterday Yeah, I believe so.

That's a good point. And that would be yeah him doing so as a not a disciple maybe in the

New Testament sense so much but yeah and to follow after God and to be part of his people and To and to form and I mean what is

Abraham doing but forming the new family of God right as he's as he's becomes the father of many nations, etc

Yeah, that's a good point All right

Yeah, and so though Genesis 2 24 speaks particularly of husbands therefore a man shall leave his father and mother

The same is true of the wife. It's not Yeah, there's no Maybe we could say there's a particular way it applies to the husband

But it still applies fairly symmetrically to the wife that she must leave her her family as well

And this is something a lot of women struggle with, you know When they when they get married when their husband's not treating them

Well, they're sad about things say what do they do? They call it mom. They complain they say Like is that really a leaving father and mother or is that you know hanging on because when

I don't like this family I'll tend back to this family when I do like this family No, you can't be this weathered vein of Deciding which family you want to be part of the same is true of disciples, right?

You can't be like, oh well now I like the world Because the because the church is too difficult.

Oh, you know now the church is okay. Oh, no, I think I like the world again We can't be that weathered vein and likewise wives can't be that weathered vein with their new family

It has to be something they're committed to you also see a lot of Wives who have trust issues who

Because they have trust issues and are so concerned that Divorce is somewhere on the horizon

They've always got some kind of backup plan in place and they're really scared to Lose anything that would be part of their backup plan whether it be, you know holding on to a particular career or something and not investing in the home because not because it's actually

Needed for the family to survive or anything. It's just well what happens if he what happens if this doesn't work out, right?

And that's not a that's not a commitment to the new family That's a you know, one foot in the one foot in the old family still

If you're not willing to fully commit to your own family, there's another proverb that Is appropriate here

Let me see if I can look it up. Oh Man, can anybody help me find this it talks about the foolish woman woman tearing down her own household

It is yeah, it's proverbs. Yeah, I'll just check Google instead of trying to search the words directly.

Okay Proverbs 14 one Yeah, the wisest of women builds her house but folly with her own hands tears it down that's what a lot of a

Lot of women do because they aren't fully committed to their to their new home, especially younger right younger moms or younger wives

Because they still feel like they've got one foot in the old door They're not committed to building the house up and we'll even build it tear it down Okay Any questions

Yeah, if you've got if you got practical questions to about what should you do in this sort of situation? Feel free to ask them.

I know we're spending a lot of time on theology here, but The whole point is to get to practical applications like that.

And I know I'm kind of light on the on the specifics. I'm giving We're gonna all of this stuff

I plan on most of these Application points I plan on coming back to and the usual way that you would go through them

You know, just what is marriage? How should you think of marriage? most most works on marriage are going in that direction and then they'll

They're walking through what marriage is and how you should do marriage and then they'll occasionally make observations about Christ in the church

Right, and we're trying to if Christ in the church is primary We're trying to do the opposite at least first before then going back with all that in mind doing it the other way

All right Okay now service though he came as a king

Jesus ministry was marked by service who wants to read Matthew 2025 through 28 2025 through 28

Thanks 2025

Do 38 28 20, but Jesus called them to him and said, you know that the rule rulers of the

Gentiles Lord it over them and their great ones exercise authority over them It shall not be so among you

But whoever would be great among you must be your servants and whoever would be first among you must be your slave

Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many

Okay. Thank you. All right, and this is a especially One well -known instance of this is

Jesus washing the disciples feet. Someone want sorry Miguel every time you squeeze back in there I ask you to pass it to somebody else, but this one want to read

John 13 2 through 5 Sorry make you keep getting back up you just let them pass it around John 13 2 through 5

During supper when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him

Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and they had come from God and was

Going back to God rose from supper He laid aside his outer garments and taking a towel tied it around his waist

And he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around Yeah, sorry go all the way to verse 8

Came to Simon Peter who said to him Lord, do you wash my feet Jesus answered him?

What am I doing? You do not understand now, but afterward you will understand Peter said to him

You shall never wash my feet Jesus answered him if I do not wash you you shall have no share with me

All right. Thank you. All right. So yeah, we have this we have Jesus washing the disciples feet

Interestingly, this is another one of those passages where there's a lot of present tense in the original Greek, you know, and then he

Let's say was it say? I lost my

I lost my spot, but Yeah, it says

He rises from supper and lays aside his garments and he took a towel. So just which is the past tense right there

So while that's While that's normal and the way we speak it's not normal in the way we write so I think that's the that's like the cultural disconnect because I always think like why why does that feel so unnatural if we

Also speak that way Just we don't write that way All right, so does this apply this the service that's washing the feet

Well washing is one of the same words that Paul uses in Ephesians 5 Ephesians 5 25 through 26.

He says Husbands love your wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for it that he might sanctify it having cleansed

It by the washing of water with the word so now the kind of cleansing that Christ is symbolizing when he

Washes the feet is of course a purification that a husband cannot offer a wife that kind of sanctification or that kind of Yeah, cleansing from sin is not really possible for a husband to do but husband is to care for a wife's well -being or spiritual well -being, especially

And so husbands should serve their wives now this this service service is not at odds with With authority a lot of times it will be pitched at being at odds with authority

Something that Tim recently pointed out to me was that The term servant leader.

I forget if it was like in the 70s or 80s, but that was some That didn't come from you know, like Christian writings that came from some

You know workplace Philosophy about about how to lead in the workplace servant leadership and then ended up getting adopted by Christians in the way, right and there's nothing wrong with leaders being servants

But a lot of times the way that servant leadership is described. It's more servant and very little leadership, right?

It's authority less leadership Where the only way that you lead is by by persuasion and nothing else

So these things are So these things are not at odds with authority, but it directs authority, right?

How should? How should Christ use authority his you should use it for the good of his church and At the same time it doesn't stand at odds with the service that the church is to give to Christ Right the fact that he's serving her does not mean that she should not serve him that the church is to Serve him and it is likewise for her good

Yeah Yeah, and so often you see people take Notions of authority and say that well it'd be

While husband has that authority because he's supposed to be serving her anytime. He actually uses that authority to you know, rule her or command her would be

Tyrannical and that's a failure to to serve Like something wrong has happened at that point

But the thing is we don't see those at odds in Christ relationship, right? He commands the church He rules over the church like that's these are not these are not bad things.

I mean, I saw a really good Someone most people would recognize is like a good evangelical teacher recently talked about how it's wrong for husbands to rule over their wives and I get that that phrase can have connotations that people don't like right because it sounds it sounds domineering but We should not object to Biblical phrases, you know first first Peter three talks about how

Sarah called her husband Lord, you know, these are terms of ruling and Christ rules over his church if we end up Because of you know, some kind of fear of modern perception of what these terms might mean

Abandon them you end up you end up putting a pretty big chink in something important and so these things don't have to be at odds and Moreover It's not it's not at odds to the service of the wife or Christ service to the church

That these commands be directed for his particular purposes, right?

when he calls the church to worship him when he calls the church to To do things for his sake to build up his kingdom, etc.

This is not okay. Well, we spent a little time You know, I spent some time doing things for your good.

Now, you're gonna do some things for my good, right? It's not like the quid pro quo that a lot of people imagine and these relationships because they're their fates you know, that's terrible word to use in theology teaching but because they're but because their

Futures are bound up with one another because they are One flesh one being the head one being the body

Because they're bound up together the good of one is the good of the other and so it is right for the

Husband in this case Christ to command the wife in this case the church to do things particularly for his ends because it also for the good of her ends right and that's that's the thing that I think is really missing and a lot of marriages to make submission joyful a lot of people imagine that the authority structure you see

God give in in the Bible is Kind of arbitrary one like a defiantly appointed tiebreaker, right?

Okay, there's husband and wife. Sometimes they've got to make decisions and they don't agree. Well, how do you agree? Well the husband he he got the time, you know,

God declared him to be the tiebreaker. So you have to listen to him It's there's there's a lot more to it than that.

It's not just that he has this arbitrary authority. It's for a particular purpose because Because he plays that particular role and because they are bound up together her good is found in his good

Let's See let me uh Suppose I don't have that written down here.

Let me go ahead and quote first Corinthians 11 because I think that's really a important verse on this point

Before a man was not made from the woman but woman from man neither was man created for a woman but woman for man

Okay, so the woman was made as a helper For the man and this is not at odds with her good right this is this is for her good and so if when a woman embraces that and realizes that her good is found in her husband's good and that particularly his

Prerogatives are the ones that should be advanced and not and it's not like a bouncing back and forth between hers and his with some kind of quid pro quo or the

Yeah Yeah, or the husband even thinking that way either right his service to the wife. Oh, this is just You know, this is just what she needs now.

I'll get what I want later No, even him serving her is for Is for his good as as Paul says

Let's see In the same way husband should love their wives as their own bodies

He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ That's the church.

So when Christ Exalts the church he is doing so for his for his glory, right?

The more his name is proclaimed in the church some more The more he is glorified. It's a It's a win -win here

So there's a symmetry in the In the fact that the serving the way each serves each other is actually for not just for the good of the other but even

For the good of the self, but then there's an asymmetry on where the prerogative lies and that would be with Christ in church

It's in Christ Objectives and so he when he does give commands, etc.

It is for It is for those purposes and likewise for the husband In a in a human relationship has that authority to advance his purposes for the good of both of them together

Let's see. Yeah, so those things are in not in competition, but in sweet harmony and That does not have to be selfish

But so many people imagine serving one another to be selfish and then you you have that where they hold Where husband and wife will hold things over your head.

Well, you got to do this last week I don't I get to do this this week, you know, you got the Etc, you know, well you got time away shouldn't

I get some time away, you know, and Yeah, I'm very thankful. I've seen that I've seen that in a lot of relationships.

I'm very thankful that Sarah is very gracious to me She understands that you know If I go to a pastor's conference or whatever like this is this is for the good of of the family and you know

The purpose is what we as a family are trying to do together and she doesn't feel like well now I need to be

You know because you left me for two or three days now I need to now I should get to leave you for two or three days and go do a girl time or something like That right?

I'm very thankful that she doesn't see that it that way but sees it as something that is just for the good of what the Family is doing together

Moving on to the proclamation of the of the kingdom So in line with this we see that the disciples advance their own ends.

So not only is Christ advancing His ends by serving the church, but also the disciples advance their ends by by advancing

Christ's ends So not only did Christ proclaim the gospel But his servants proclaimed it as well

Matthew 10 7 and as you go preach saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand and Luke 9 6 and they departed and went through The villages preaching the gospel and healing everywhere

So the disciples engage in the same activity as their teacher advancing his purposes Yeah, so the wife should not be advancing her own purposes, but rather her husband's and once again

I think I mentioned this before but a lot of times what you see with a wife who has a particular career now sometimes

I understand it might be very difficult for families to make ends meet and and there might be some need for The wife to work in order for that to be the for that to be satisfied

Yet a wife who has her own career Where she is kind of advancing her ends that are distinct from the man's ends

And it's not really just about the of the building up of the family This is contrary to the nature of being a helper

Like Genesis 2 18 says and Jehovah God said it is not good that the man should be alone

I will make him a suitable. I will make him a suitable help for him right and then

That passage I just quoted 1st Corinthians 11 8 for the man is not of the woman But the woman from the man for neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man

Yeah, and moreover yes, go ahead Right, I think yeah

It should still be that Orientation those should still be toward the husband as the head right and whatever is going to build up The family as directed by the husband, right?

And so it's not like oh, okay now I can go now that I've been serving my family this whole time now I can serve me and do my thing right like that's not the that's not the idea

But yeah, that might be it might become more appropriate for there to be some Activity that from a very superficial perspective is directed more outside the home than would have been before at the same time

I would say that I do think and We'll get more into like the

How we should think about? Having children raising children, but I do think that part of the this question comes from the fact that our families are so small

Right like you say oh now the kids are how that house. There's nothing to do If there were in the typical home more kids that'd be more grandkids

There'd be you know, the house would continue to be kind of a center of activity

And that was would never really Yeah, there wouldn't necessarily be that kind of Obvious.

Yeah lull or transition, right? right, so I do think

I do think a lot of the questions we end up asking are our Byproducts of other questions that need to be asked.

Yes Lord willing

Yeah Yeah, it does yeah, certainly you want to be cautious not to overstep your boundaries and like well,

I'm sure you know a Respectful kid and my kid

I'm referring to the the parent of the children and the son of the grandparent

While that well that kid should be willing to receive advice from his father and hopefully accept it

You definitely don't want to do it in an overbearing way where you're giving command because you no longer have you know Any kind of rule over your your son, you know, if he's out of the home

So, I mean, that's just a general statement I guess there's all kinds of specifics that could be given but then the second part of your question was

The second part of your question, what was it? Oh Okay right

Yeah, maybe I mean maybe just qualifying. It's like a you don't have to you don't have to do this

But what I found to be helpful, etc. Right that kind of thing. I find that my parents are very cautious with giving me advice because Some of their parents were a little overbearing and so they're always way to really really don't want to put any pressure on me, but But yeah,

I think it's I think it's fair for you know parents and grandparents to talk to each other and yeah, just as long as Yeah, there's not this idea.

Well, you know, I am the the Patriarch in the sense of like of this multi -generational patriarch, right that gets to command the whole the whole brood or something

That's not how it works. There's a new family. There's a new family. It starts as a different family Even if it has the same last name, it's a different family

Yeah, sorry. What was that Bianca? Okay let's

Let's keep looking at this here. All right, so Right, so the disciples are honoring the name of Christ in the proclamation of the gospel

Matthew 18 20 Talks about people gathering in the name of Jesus for wherever two or three are gathered together my name there

Am I among them? Matthew 28 19 says go Therefore and make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit so So they are honoring his name and they are even honoring it to their own hurt

Matthew 10 22 says and you will be hated by all men for my name's sake But he who endures to the end the same will be saved

Matthew 24 9 Then will they deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you and you will be hated by the all the nations for my name's

Sake John 15 21 says but all these things they will do to you for my name's sake

But they do not know him that sent me So, of course a woman should be proclaiming the name of her husband as they are as though he were some kind of Savior and of the world the way that The disciples proclaimed

Christ yet at the same time, you know woman should not speak ill of her husband She should not tear him down and or seek to distance herself from him when he is thought poorly of She should honor his reputation even to his own hurt now, of course as we've pointed out other times there are limitations in this right

Christ is perfect. We would never have any reason to be ashamed of anything that he's done not rightly, right?

Husbands aren't going to be that way. Sometimes they will do dumb things So the the point here is not that you can't acknowledge

Fault or you have to you can only Yeah, you can only acknowledge that which is good you should acknowledge that which is true but as she

But but a wife should speak and act for the good of of her husband's name as is suitable and truthful

All right, so next time we're going to look at the what's known as the munish triplex threefold office of Christ Prophet Christ and King and we will see how that that applies also to the

You know between a man and his wife Given that that really does define the relationship between Christ and the church

Any questions from what we've talked about today Okay.

Well, let's go ahead and pray Dear my father We thank you for your word.

We thank you that it gives us guidance You've given marriage is a great gift to humanity as a whole But we as Christians may especially enjoy it knowing the thing that it signifies

We ask that you would You would help us to honor you in our marriages and in the way that we honor marriage in general