In Preparation for Our Sermon This Coming Lord S Day November 8, 2015

In preparation for our sermon this coming Lord’s Day – April 30, 2017 Affirming the Goodness of God’s Restrictions on our Sexual Relationships - Part 4 Ephesians 5:22-6:4 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32 (NIV84) ------Welcome again to a four-part sermon series where I will be Affirming the Goodness of God’s Restrictions on our Sexual Relationships. From where does anyone derive authority to define the rightful use of our bodies in sexual relationships? We look again to God’s Holy Scriptures to deepen our understanding of God’s intentions for our sexual relationships and invite Him through His Holy Spirit to increase our appreciation and understanding for the restrictions He has placed on us. ------“Let Marriage Be Held in Honor” – by John Piper, June 16, 2012 Marriage is created and defined by God in the Scriptures as the sexual and covenantal union of a man and a woman in life-long allegiance to each other alone, as husband and wife, with a view to displaying Christ’s covenant relationship to his blood-bought church. This is seen most clearly from four passages where these truths are woven together. 1. Genesis 1:27–28. Genesis 1:27–28 (ESV): “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” 2. Genesis 2:23–24. And then God linked his design in manhood and womanhood with marriage in Genesis 2:23–24 (ESV). When the woman is created from his side, the man exclaims: “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” In other words, God created man male and female so that there might be a one-flesh sexual union and covenantal cleaving with a view to multiplying the human race, and displaying God’s covenant with his people, and eventually Christ's covenant with his church. 3. Matthew 19:4–6. Remarkably Jesus picked up on this link between creation and marriage and life-long covenant, weaving together these very two texts from Genesis. Matthew 19:4–6 (ESV): Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female [Genesis 1:27], 5 and said [quoting Genesis 2:24], “Therefore [linking creation and marriage] a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. And in our cultural setting, the words “Let not man separate the male and female that God has joined together,” has vastly greater significance than anyone ever thought it would. 4. Ephesians 5:24–32. One more text on the meaning of marriage makes the distinction between male and female — husband and wife — covenantally significant as a portrayal of Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:24-25, 31-32 (ESV): Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. . . . 31 “Therefore [quoting Genesis 2:24] a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

1 In other words, from the beginning there has been a mysterious and profound meaning to marriage. And Paul is now opening that mystery. And it is this: God made man male and female with their distinctive feminine and masculine natures and their distinctive roles so that in marriage as husband and wife they could display Christ and the church. Which means that the basic roles of wife and husband are not interchangeable. The husband displays the sacrificial love of Christ’s headship, and the wife displays the submissive role of Christ’s body. The mystery of marriage is that God had this double (of wife and husband) display in mind when He created man as male and female. Therefore, the profoundest reality in the universe underlies marriage as a covenantal union between a man and a woman. ------The overall question for our study: Why did God make His creation binary, male and female? Secondary questions: How important is “binary” to our existence and God’s existence? What is the net result of trying to eliminate the reality of binary in life?

Ephesians 5:22-6:4 (NIV84) Why binary? 22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church — 30 for we are members of His body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is Conclusions: right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “that it may go well For what purpose has God created two with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.” distinctly different sexes who are complementary? 4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

My preliminary anticipations for what I may hear this coming Lord’s Day: ______

2 My prayer for Pastor Dan and all those who will hear this message: ______