FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
When God Will Bless Your Marriage | Ruth 4:1-33
All right, can we put our hands together for all of our teachers this morning, all of our faculty administration, all of our bus drivers? In fact, we wanna honor you this morning If you are retired or you're active, you're a teacher, you're an administrator, you're faculty, you're a bus driver, you're a coach, in any way involved in our public, private, homeschool, wherever it might be. Would you just stand right now so we can honor you, wherever it might be. Would you just stand right now so we can honor you and let's put our hands together for them. Thank you so much. Thank you for all that you do Raising up and educating the next generation as men and women and dads and moms going into the workforce, our society and our community. And we just we honor you today as a reminder. We have a gift for all of our active teachers. Why do we give them a gift? Because often they're responsible for resourcing their classroom, and so we've got a $75 gift card for all of our teachers, just right out here after the service. And so all of our active teachers just wanna remind you, fill out a Next Step card and you can put any information you want on there, but especially your name, your email and on the back you can put the grade that you teach and the school that you teach at, and we are looking forward to honor you and to resourcing you in that way. And again, it is our way of saying thank you and I just, I absolutely love getting to be senior pastor here at First Baptist Church, powder Springs, because we get to be a church where all of the community can come together in unity as a family and worship Jesus as one. And God is so good and he is working in our lives, he's working in our church, he is working in our community and we just wanna say thank you to our teachers and everyone who is a part of it.
Speaker 1:I want to remind you or maybe for the first time, we have Baptism Sunday coming up. Everybody say baptism, baptism Sunday coming up on September the 14th. Here's the deal I'm going to be preaching on baptism September 7th, so maybe you or maybe someone you know is I'm going to be preaching on salvation and baptism. We share the gospel every Sunday, but really that's going to be a get saved and get baptized kind of Sunday on September 7th, and then the next Sunday, september 14th, is we're going to have baptism Sunday for everybody that wants to get baptized. So if you need to be baptized, we would love to baptize you. Or if you know someone right, don't come and push them in the tank, but you bring them, and whatever God wants to do in their life, we will leave the results to the Lord.
Speaker 1:Well, let's continue in our series through the month of August. It is on the book of Ruth. It's all about what God can do within your family and we are calling it Bless this Mess. Look at somebody and say Bless this Mess, bless this Mess. So this is our opportunity that we get to talk about just family and biblical manhood and biblical womanhood and parenting, and this morning specifically, we are going to be talking about marriage, when God will bless your marriage. Just as a reminder, this is for everyone who is married.
Speaker 1:Raise your hand if you're married this morning. Raise your hand, very good. Raise your hand if you're single this morning. This is for you too. Look around, see who all is single in the room, meet each other, go out to lunch, invite me to the wedding. You are welcome. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we love you and God, we just wanna proclaim that this is your word, we're your people, god, we want your work and for you to do God in our life, whatever brings you worship and whatever brings you glory. In Jesus' name and all God's people said amen. When will God bless your marriage? And I love that all the kids are in here with us today.
Speaker 1:My little girl, brooklyn, is in here, first grade, over here today as well, and I think I may have told you before do you remember? I told you the one about the husband's store that they have in New York City, the husband's store. So apparently, as a single woman, you could walk in the store if you were shopping for a husband, and there's six floors to the store. From what I understand, the rules are is that there's a certain type of man on a floor and you can go up, and whenever you go up the man gets a little bit better, but you can never come back down. Okay, I guess that's the rules to the store.
Speaker 1:So you walk in and the first floor is these men have good jobs, right? So a woman walked in and said man, that sounds really nice, but I think I can do a little better than that. And so she walks up to the second floor, these men have good jobs and they love kids. Wow, it just keeps getting better. Let me go up to the third floor see what they offer. Man, they've got good jobs, they love kids and they're romantic. Well, I gotta see what's on the fourth floor. The fourth floor jobs, kids, romantic, and they do housework. On the fifth floor, right goes through everything again and they do all of that and they make a lot of money, right. And so the woman says this is incredible, I've got one more floor. What more could they possibly offer? Goes up to the next floor. There's no men, there's only a sign, and the sign says this floor is to prove that no man can meet any woman's expectations. I love that. I love that story.
Speaker 1:You know, I heard recently there's not only a husband's store, there's a wife's store, and so a single man walked into the wife's store, new York City, first floor and said these women are good looking, so he's like man, this is great. Goes up to the next floor and says these women are romantic. And then apparently, from what I understand, no man has ever been to the third floor or higher because we're good after floor two. There you go. All right, we're just good, good looking, romantic, we are good to go. Single ladies single ladies in the room what a reminder for you that you will not find the perfect husband and no woman in this room is married to the perfect man, and all God's women said amen. Single men, this is a reminder for you that you will not find the perfect woman and no man is married to the perfect woman, and all God's men said don't say it, don't say it, do not say it, do not say it, do not say it. Some of y'all almost got in trouble.
Speaker 1:What I'm saying this morning, what I'm saying this morning to you, is is the Bible is our only you ever thought about this? The Bible is your only reliable source of truth when it comes to singleness in marriage and how to live your life in a blessed way, because you don't want to bless yourself and you don't want someone else to bless you. You want God to bless you most. If you believe that, say yeah, you want God to bless your life, and so I want you to see in the word of God, that God's word, it actually starts with the marriage Adam and Eve. It actually ends with the ultimate eternal marriage between Christ and his bride. The church and the Bible is full of imperfect marriages all the way through it, but the Bible gives us truths and principles in how we can be married and live for Jesus in our marriages and also in our singleness.
Speaker 1:You realize today we live in a world where less people are getting married than ever, some 60% less over the last 50 years. We live in a world today where almost half of marriages end in divorce. You realize about 50% of marriages end in divorce. You realize about 60% of second marriages end in divorce. You realize about 70% of third marriages end in divorce. In other words, I wanna encourage you get married to a godly spouse and when you get married you stay married, because typically you find out well, if we get divorced, they'll marry the next person they get divorced. Marry the next person they get divorced. The problem's not them, the problem is you right.
Speaker 1:And so the whole point is this God won't bless a marriage against his word. And why won't God bless a marriage against his word? The reason he will not is because he cannot. God cannot bless anyone, god cannot bless anything that is not living for his glory, because God would then be blessing people who are living in disobedience of him. So the book of Ruth that we're gonna see this morning is the most perfect example of an earthly love story. But hear me, the book of Ruth points us to the perfect marriage, love relationship of Jesus and his church.
Speaker 1:So in case you missed it, just to catch you up on Ruth so far, there was a guy by the name of Elimelech. He was married to Naomi. Elimelech wanted to take matters into his own hands, so he moved his wife Naomi, his two sons, malon and Kilion, to a pagan land called Moab. There Elimelech dies. The two sons marry two different women, ruth and Orpah. The sons die. Now all you have left is Naomi, who's now the mother-in-law of these daughters-in-law, ruth and Orpah, who are of Moab, this pagan land.
Speaker 1:Naomi wants to move back to Bethlehem where the people of God live, and so Orpah says I'm going to go back to my people in Moab, ruth. But the other Moabite wife says Naomi, I want to come with you, I want your people to be my people. And Ruth says I want your God to be my God. This is Ruth's salvation moment in her life. She says I no longer want this pagan God, chemosh of Moab, to be my God or any other God. You've been telling me about Yahweh, you've been telling me about the one living, true God, and I wanna live my life, I wanna go with you and I want to experience this God. And so they move back and the big question is, in this whole mess in their life, as Elimelech has died and Malon and Kilion has died, and Naomi is moving back, they've been gone for 10 years and Ruth is moving back with her from a pagan land and now they're living together and they've got nothing and they've got no one and they are broke and they don't know what to do. The question is how is God going to bless their mess?
Speaker 1:Well, it just so happens that Ruth goes to a field in order to glean wheat to take back to Naomi so that they can eat, and it just so happens that it was a field owned by a man by the name of Boaz. The Bible says that he's a worthy man. Looks like that he was even a wealthy man. Looks like that he was even a single man. And Boaz takes interest in Ruth and Ruth takes interest in Boaz. To the point. Last week they went on this big date and Ruth basically proposes to that he would propose to her. In other words, ladies, as I told you last week, if he won't ask you out, don't ask him out, but you can go tell him, hey, if you ask me out, just so you know, I'll say yes. Or maybe you've been in a dating relationship for a while and he won't ask you to marry. You just say hey. I just want you to know. If you ask me I will say yes, right, it's in beautiful love story. But Boaz says legally, culturally, lawfully, there's another man who actually comes before me that's able to marry you before I can. And Boaz says I am going to go and take charge of this, I'm going to handle this. Now, here's the deal, here's the point.
Speaker 1:The point is number one in marriage that God blesses. Number one is it's complicated. Everybody say complicated. You ever, someone ever, asked you a question about an area of your life and you didn't even want to get into it because it would take too long. And so you just answer it's complicated. Right, if someone ever, if you ever, asked them and they tell you it's complicated, that means don't even go there, it's going to take too long to explain.
Speaker 1:You have complications in your life. You have complications in your family. You have complications in your singleness. You have complications in your marriage. One thing that we need to remember as the people of God is this every marriage, every life to remember as the people of God is this every marriage, every life, every family, everyone has complications. You are not alone. We even see this in the story. There's this huge complication they want to get married.
Speaker 1:But in that culture there was another man who was able to marry Ruth before Boaz. And what a reminder that we often like to find things that aren't complicated to make life and think, parts of our life that feel complicated, kind of like a Hallmark Christmas movie. You know, what's not complicated is a Hallmark Christmas movie. Right, it's always going to be a small town girl and she's going to move away to a big city where she's going to meet somebody and they're going to be engaged. She, she's gonna move back to the small town and either they've gotta save the farm or the family business, or they've got a cookie decorating contest to win something very important and she falls back in love with the small town boy. Maybe it was her boyfriend back in the day. She always has to break it off the big city boy and they get married and there's always an old man on set who is Santa Claus, every single time that Santa Claus lives in that town. Right, it's not complicated? Well, let's walk through the complication of Ruth and Boaz's life. Verse one of Ruth, chapter. Y'all can take that off the big screen now. Very good, all right, ruth, chapter one.
Speaker 1:Now Boaz had gone up to the gate, just real quick. What was the gate? The gate was the premier part of the city, the center of the city, where they would do all of their legal dealings and where people would walk through every day. So Boaz goes to the gate, he sits down and behold the Redeemer, the other guy that was rightfully ahead of him for Ruth, of whom Boaz had spoken. That other guy came by, so I love this. Ahead of him for Ruth, of whom Boaz had spoken. That other guy came by, so I love this. Boaz said turn aside, friend. I love that. He called him a nickname Like hey bud, hey pal, why don't you sit, buckaroo, why don't you sit down right here? And he turned aside and Boaz sat the guy down. Here's what I love about Boaz is Boaz is a real man.
Speaker 1:Boaz takes matters into his own hands. Boaz trusts God, he loves God, he obeys God, he does things God's way, the proper way, but he doesn't just wait for God. What Boaz does is God, I trust you, I obey you, lead me and I'm gonna go and I'm gonna handle it, I'm gonna take care of it. In other words, men, we are called to lead our family. We are called to lead our family. We are called to lead our wife. We're called to lead our children, lead our homes, lead in our work and lead in our city. That's who we're called to be as godly men. Verse two and Boaz took 10 men of the elders of the city and said you sit down here too. And so they sat down. I love that.
Speaker 1:Boaz is not doing anything in secret. He's not private, it's very public. He's got nothing to hide. He's gonna do the right thing, the right way, and he's gonna do it in community. It's the important part of a Christian life. You know this lie that we've been told that my relationship with God is just private between me and him and whatever happens between us, nobody gets to part of a Christian life. You know this lie that we've been told that my relationship with God is just private between me and him and whatever happens between us. Nobody gets to know. That is a lie of the devil. What the scriptures tell us is that we are called to live our life in community with one another, because we have nothing to hide. We want to do things publicly Verse three.
Speaker 1:Then Boaz said to the redeemer you remember Naomi? Remember the lady that she moved off about 10 years ago? She went to Moab with Elimelech. Her husband died, her sons died. She came back. Yeah, you remember her. She's part of your family. Yeah, you got it. Okay, who has come back from the country of Moab? Naomi is selling the parcel of land that belonged to our relative Elimelech.
Speaker 1:So Boaz starts with the positive. He starts out with something good because he's working his way into a conclusion. He said. Boaz said so I thought I would tell you of the land that Naomi's selling and I would encourage you buy it, in the presence of those sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to redeem it, then redeem it. But if you don't want to redeem it, if you don't want to buy Naomi's land which he would also get Naomi the redeemer would also get Ruth as well. He said if you don't want to tell me, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you legally, lawfully, and I will redeem it.
Speaker 1:Boaz said the day you buy the field, I'm sorry. So the redeemer in verse four, actually he said the other redeemer said I will redeem it. And so right here, every reader gasps because it looks like that Boaz is losing Ruth. It looks like the other redeemer is going to buy the field, which means he gets Naomi, which means he gets Ruth too. And it looks like the other redeemer is going to buy the field, which means he gets Naomi, which means he gets Ruth too. And it looks like this whole love story is over. You ever felt like that, that your love life is over. You ever felt like that it's all done. You ever felt like you've come to the end of your story. Remember, whenever you feel like that, that God is continuing to work and God is writing a new story. So the other redeemer said I will redeem it verse five.
Speaker 1:Then Boaz said the day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth, the Moabite, the widow of the dead. He really makes her sound great, doesn't he? So you wanna buy the field? Fine, you can buy the field, but just remember, when you get the field, you're gonna get a bitter old woman. Her name is Naomi. She literally calls herself bitter. You're also gonna acquire Ruth, a Moabite. She's a widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance. It sounds terrible. It sounds like her online dating profile. You know, like if Ruth had one, she would say I am from a pagan country of Moab, my husband's dead. I'm living in Bethlehem with my mother-in-law who's completely dependent upon me. We are completely broke zero money, but I'm really good at gathering wheat, right? It sounds very compelling and very attractive. And so Boaz puts it in this way.
Speaker 1:And verse six, the Redeemer said I'm out, I'm out. I didn't realize that all that came with this whole deal. I can't realize that all that came with this whole deal. I can't redeem this for myself lest I impair my own inheritance. The redeemer said take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it. In other words, the other redeemer is saying who would want that? Who would want this field? Who would want this mother-in-law? Who would want this Moabite woman, this widow? Who would want this mess And-law? Who would want this Moabite woman, this widow? Who would want this mess?
Speaker 1:And Boaz is saying I do Give me the mess, because Boaz sees through the mess, he sees through the complication and he sees his queen, he sees his companion, he sees his calling, he sees his woman, he sees his wife and that's what Jesus loves to do. Listen, jesus looks into the mess of my life and Jesus looks into the mess of your life and Jesus is our redeemer. And Jesus sees through your mess and he loves you so much that he says I want to step into the mess and I want to bless the mess and Jesus dies for our sin and he rises from the dead. And that's what he's teaching us through Ruth and Boaz. What does Boaz get?
Speaker 1:Boaz is not focused on a field he's gotta cut. He's not focused on a mother-in-law he's gotta feed. He's not focused on a wife that he is. He's redeeming her from all of her. He's focused on I get a wife, I get a mother-in-law, I get a family. I get to be blessed by God. That God is also redeeming his mess too. Boaz sees hear me, boaz sees that, even in all of the complication, that God is blessing his family, that God wants to bless him with a wife. He wants to bless him with a wife. He wants to bless him with a wife.
Speaker 1:I heard about two little boys in a wedding and they were sitting next to each other in a wedding and it was just beautiful and they loved the music. And here comes the bride, down the aisle and everyone is just dressed to the nines, right, and one little boy leans over to the other little boy and says this is awesome, I want to get married one day. He said how many wives can I have, right? And the other little boy thought about it and he said well, the pastor said 16. He said 16, I can have 16 wives, he said. The pastor said four better, four worse, four in sickness and four in health. So that's 16, right there. So, boaz, I'm sorry, that was terrible. So, boaz, he looks through it all and here's what I want you to hear me say Proverbs 12, verse four an excellent wife is the crown of her husband.
Speaker 1:In other words, every marriage, every family is complicated. Every life of single is complicated. Can I just tell you, if you are single here today and I realize half of America is single, half of America is married and here we're probably about 50-50. I want us to be a church of singles. I want us to be a church of single people where single people can meet each other. I want us to be a church where we are raising up godly men and godly women in their singleness to be able to meet one another so they can have a godly marriage. Can I get an amen to be able to meet one another so they can have a godly marriage? Can I get an amen?
Speaker 1:If you're single, I just want you to hear me say today that if your single life is complicated, that does not mean that Jesus is not involved. I believe that Jesus steps into our complication and he blesses us. Complication is just a presence that you live in a sin-cursed world, but what Jesus loves to do is he loves to redeem and he loves to restore. Maybe you're engaged to someone today and you're thinking this thing is so complicated. If it's right, is it really gonna be this complicated? And I would say well, first of all, I don't know your situation, but second of all, every dating relationship, every engagement, every marriage is complicated.
Speaker 1:Complication is not the absence of Jesus. You just wanna make sure that you are dating or engaged to or marrying a godly spouse that loves Jesus even more than they love you. And maybe you're here today wondering do I need to step out of my marriage Because my marriage is so complicated? Have I married the wrong person? I came across this and I wanted to read this to you this morning. Maybe, if you find yourself unhappy in your marriage, can I just remind you this morning you're not unhappy because you married the wrong person. You're unhappy because no one is. But Jesus is perfect.
Speaker 1:Every spouse comes with a trade-off. Maybe the one with money doesn't have a whole lot of time. Maybe the one with a lot of time doesn't have a lot of money. Maybe the really romantic one is too emotional. Maybe the really loyal one is way too boring. But that doesn't mean you're doomed to unhappiness. You're just living in a sinful world.
Speaker 1:Marriage isn't about finding the perfect person. It's about two sinners saying I do, following Jesus together. Real love doesn't always feel magical. Sometimes it looks like doing dishes, praying for one another's problems, giving space without resentment or even sharing silence when there are no words. If you're wanting or waiting for perfect, you'll wait forever because there's no such person. But if you build your marriage by pursuing Jesus together, you'll find the kind of love that lasts through the messy, the boring and the complicated. Boaz looked through all the mess and he said I want her. Jesus looked through all the mess and Jesus said I want you. Number one it's complicated. Number two it's cost-worthy. Everyone say cost-worthy. A marriage that God is blessing is cost-worthy. Through all the complication, it is worth the cost. You realize that a marriage will cost you. It will cost you your pride, your selfishness, your laziness, your comfort, your idols, and it will cost you your privacy. But it will reward you with love, with unity, with growth, with intimacy, with faith that God has reward within marriage, because marriage is a picture of Christ and the church.
Speaker 1:Verse nine Boaz said to all those elders and to all the people you are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Malon and Kilion. And watch this, watch how the people respond. This is amazing. Verse 10 he said I also also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malon. I have bought to be my wife. Then all the people respond this is amazing. Verse 10,. He said I also also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Malon. I have bought to be my wife.
Speaker 1:Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said we are witnesses. And then what did they do? They started praying for Boaz and Ruth. First, they prayed for Ruth. May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah who together built up the house, like Rachel and Leah who together built up the house of Israel. All of the people started praying for Ruth.
Speaker 1:Do you want to know what is one of the most important things you can do? If you're single, you want to find a godly spouse. If you're married and you want to become a more godly spouse, or to pray for your spouse to become more godly, the number one thing you can do is not preach to them, it's pray for them. It's pray for them. And we see here the community is praying for them. There is something so powerful about getting on your knees before God in desperation, praying for your spouse, praying for yourself If you wanna get married, that you would pray that God would provide that for you If you are married, that God would bless your marriage. And they pray for Ruth. Not only that, but they pray for Boaz. May you act worthily. Notice they're praying for Boaz's continued character.
Speaker 1:Boaz. May you continue to be a godly man, may in all that you do, may you continue to obey Jesus and worship Jesus in all that you do, and may you be renowned in Bethlehem. To be renowned means to be remembered after death for your righteousness, they're saying Boaz. May you live in such of a way that, when you die, you're going to be your reputation. What you're going to be remembered by is your righteousness, not all the other stuff. Repentation what you're gonna be remembered by is your righteousness, not all the other stuff. In other words, if you died today, what would you be remembered for? Your righteousness before the Lord or something else?
Speaker 1:They prayed for Ruth. They prayed for Boaz. Then they prayed for their house, their home, their family, and may your house be like the house of Perez, who Tamar bore to Judah because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman. If you don't know what this means, I just need you to hear me. As your pastor, I didn't know what this meant either. I had to go look it up, and so here's what they're saying.
Speaker 1:They're saying Boaz and Ruth. May your family, may your home be blessed like the one of Judah and Tamar, who birthed Perez, judah, judah and Tamar. Who birthed Perez? Judah was a man from Bethlehem, from the people of God. Tamar was a woman from a pagan nation. The Canaanites and God brought them together and they had Perez, who would be a godly son. In other words, here's what God is saying that just like Tamar came from outside the people of God and just like Ruth came from outside the people of God, there is no such thing as an outsider within the kingdom of God. And just like Ruth came from outside the people of God, there is no such thing as an outsider within the kingdom of God. They're saying the important thing is not what country, what ethnicity that you have, but when you come in Jesus Christ, that we are all one together. God is saying there is only one race and that's the human race. And within the human race there are different nationalities. There are different nationalities, there's different ethnicities, but God is glorified when we are diversified and unified and our commonality is Jesus. Can I get an amen? That's why we want to be a multi-ethnic church, because God loves it when his children love one another and they worship Jesus together. That's what we see from the word of God. So they start praying for their house.
Speaker 1:And I just want you to hear me say this love story in the book of Ruth is unbelievable. And we think about that love story and we wonder man, I wish that my story was more romantic, or maybe more righteous, or maybe more rememberable, or whatever it might be. Here's what I would encourage you is nobody has a story like your story, because what makes your story special is not that it was perfect. What makes your story special is that it's yours. And hear me that God worked in your story in a unique way and maybe God didn't bring you together, maybe you came together in sin, but that doesn't mean that God can't redeem and restore your relationship to be a love story for the future that God gets all the glory from. Can I get an amen? That's what God loves to do. Is he loves to redeem? That's the point of the book. He wants to redeem our story. He wants to restore our story. He wants to enter into our story, to make our story better, all for his glory. So I would encourage you keep telling your story.
Speaker 1:Maybe if you find your marriage to be a little boring right now, maybe it's an opportunity that you and your spouse can rekindle and start telling your story about your early days and how you fell in love with one another and you just reminisce and you go through all of the memories. Maybe you ask another couple out on a double date and you go through all of the memories. Maybe you ask another couple out on a double date and you ask their story of how they met and how they fell in love and you get to tell your story and how you met and how you fell in love. Or maybe you're single and maybe you need to remember that the way that you live your life today matters and that you need to live as the godly spouse today in your singleness so that you can attract the godly spouse that you want to make a story with one day. Why? Because every relationship is complicated but every biblical marriage is cost-worthy. And then last last one and I'm done. And then every marriage is meant to be Christ-centered. Everyone say Christ-centered. Every marriage is meant to be Christ-centered. Everyone say Christ-centered. Every marriage is meant to be Christ-centered.
Speaker 1:Verse 13. So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Can you imagine how fast Boaz ran from that gate when the other guy publicly said I won't redeem her? You can how Boaz ran fast from that gate all the way to Naomi's house, knocked on the door, got on one knee. Ruth answers the door and there he is with the ring saying we can get married now Can you imagine the joy, the smile across Ruth's face? And they get to have this wedding together. They get to have one another. I will never forget our wedding day where I married Michelle, june 14 of 2014. I still remember, obviously, the church, the setting, the people, her dress, how beautiful she looked and how we just got to share and exchange vows of one another, of how we're gonna live for Jesus before one another.
Speaker 1:And that's what we're seeing here with Ruth and Boaz. Why? And here's the point of the story? Because the book of Ruth is not about Boaz and Ruth. The book of Ruth is about Christ and his church, the ultimate relationship that we are all caught up in.
Speaker 1:See every marriage, we find our identity, we find our meaning, we find our truth, we find our power, we find our restoration in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Right, this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we see how much a man is supposed to love his wife, that Jesus died for his bride, the church, who's the bride of Christ. I'm not the bride of Christ and you, individually, aren't the bride of Christ. The church, collectively, we are the bride of Christ, and Jesus loved his bride, even through all the complication. He saw that we, as the church, were cost worthy. He saw that you were cost worthy, and so Jesus went to the cross for my sin, and Jesus went to the cross for your sin, and it was all out of his love for you, it was all out of his love for us. And so we get to see Jesus as the ultimate spouse, the ultimate husband, in the way that he loves his bride, in the way that he leads his bride, and we also get to see the church, us collectively. What are we doing collectively? We are called to submit our lives to him, to follow his leadership and to love him, and that is the picture that God has given us for husbands and wives Ephesians 5, 31.
Speaker 1:I just wanna end with this, the most important marriage passage of the Bible. If you're married, I would encourage you to read this every single week to remind you who you're called to be as a husband, who you're called to be as a wife. If you're single, I would remind you, I would encourage you read this in who you are called to be as a wife. If you're single, I would remind you, I would encourage you, read this in who you are called to be as a future husband, a future wife, and the husband and wife that you are looking for one day. Verse 31,. Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife. In other words, we are, in a sense, leaving our families and we're creating a new family, holding fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. We're not called to fight against one another, we're called to fight for each other.
Speaker 1:But Paul says this mystery that is profound. It's a profound mystery and he's saying the mystery of husbands and wives refers to Christ in the church. In verse 22, he says so, wives, what do you do? You submit to your own husband as to the Lord? Why? Because, like the church, with Christ in the church, as you are finding your identity in the church, in the gospel, as we as a church are submitting to Jesus, you are submitting to your husband as to the Lord. In other words, you're not submitting to anything he's calling you to do sinfully, but in every way he is leading you spiritually, you are called to submit to him, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. Now, as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Speaker 1:You know Genesis 2,. It says when God created Eve, god made her a helpmate, a compliment or a helper to Adam. Do you realize that that Hebrew word is used some 21 times in the Old Testament Helper, help, meet, compliment. And did you know that 16 out of the 21 times it's used for God, towards us? In other words, ladies, you are finding your identity in God. You're finding your identity in the gospel when you submit yourself to the spiritual leadership of your husband. It says in verse 25, husbands love your wives, husband love your wife.
Speaker 1:Isn't it interesting that it said wife, submit to your husband. So you would think it would say husband, lead your wife. But it doesn't. It says husband love your wife. Why would it say wife submit to your husband, but husband love your wife? Here's why I think it is. I think because for you, ladies, it is natural for you to love. It's not always natural to submit. For us, as men, it's natural for us to lead, but it's not always natural for us to love. I believe what God is saying. Ladies, you wanna love your husband in the gospel, you love them by submitting to them. Men, you wanna lead your wife? Lead her by loving her. In other words, a godly woman will follow a godly man who is following Jesus and she will follow him to the ends of the earth. If your wife, men, knows that you are following Jesus, she will follow you anywhere. If it's not about you but it's all about him, she'll go. If she's a godly woman, wherever you lead her to go.
Speaker 1:Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. As men, we are called to find our identity, as you, ladies, find your identity in Jesus. We are called to find our identity in Jesus in the way that he loved the church and gave himself up that he might sanctify her. Why are we serving or leading and loving our wife? Because we want her to be sanctified, having been cleansed by the washing of the water with the word, making sure that the word of God is in your wife's life, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without any spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands love their wives as their own body. Aka happy wife, happy life. Can I get an amen? He who loves his wife loves himself. No one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it. Just like Jesus loves and nourishes and cherishes the church, so all husbands nourish and cherish and love their wife. Because we are members of the body of Jesus Christ, and I'll read it again. That's why we're called to leave our father and our mother. We're holding fast to the wife that the Lord has given us. We're becoming one family. Two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but husbands and wives are all about Christ and the church. Let each one of you love his wife as himself and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
Speaker 1:When will God bless your marriage? When you realize, even though it's complicated, that God is still present. When you realize that, even though it's complicated, that God is still present, when you realize that, even through the complication, it's still cost-worthy. And the one guiding truth that's going to bless your marriage, the way that God blesses your marriage, is when you live in such of a way that it is Christ-centered. If you have a husband and you have a wife on either side, the way that a husband and a wife gets closer to one another is when you get closer to God together. How are you growing in God together? I would encourage you be in a group together. I would encourage you continue to do this worship together. I would encourage you get in the word of God together. Make sure that you are praying together. It might not feel comfortable, it might feel complicated, but it's cost-worthy and that's the way that you live in such of a way that is Christ-centered and you give them all the glory. Because here's the deal.
Speaker 1:I believe the number one thing that Satan wants to destroy on earth today is marriage and family, because that's where the Bible started. Adam and Eve, husband and wife, and Satan came in and Satan wanted to divide it, because he knows that when we are united, we're stronger together. How is Satan trying to divide you From your loyalty to Jesus in your singleness in your marriage? What does the Holy Spirit wanna do in you in your singleness in your marriage? What does the Holy Spirit wanna do in you in your singleness in your marriage and in your family, in the way in which that he wants to build you up. He wants to bless your mess Next week. I'm talking about blessing the mess of parenting with children and just all. How crazy it is, and Satan loves to try to come into the middle of it and divide it all, but Jesus loves to come in and unite and strengthen and bless for his glory. I'm gonna ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes. Every head bowed and every eye closed. I just wanna encourage you right now.
Speaker 1:How is it that you need to pray this morning, as we saw the community pray for Ruth and pray for Boaz and pray for their family? Maybe this morning you need to pray for your spouse. Maybe this morning you need to pray for a godly spouse. Maybe this morning you need to pray for yourself to be a godlier spouse. Maybe this morning you need to pray for yourself to be a godlier spouse. Whatever it is that God is laying on your heart right now, I want to encourage you. Be faithful to that and pray for that. It very well might be the way, the area of your life that God wants to step into your complication and bless you most. Are you kids in the room you might wanna pray for your mommy, pray for your daddy Teenagers in the room. You might wanna pray for a godly spouse, college students and young adults and single adults, praying that God's will would be done in your life.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're here this morning and maybe you're not ready to pray that yet because you haven't given your life over to Jesus yet, you haven't allowed him to save you yet. Maybe today is the day of your salvation, maybe someone's never walked you through it. That's what I'm here to do Helping you give your life to Jesus. If you never have Believing in him, placing your faith in him, if you've never have, right here, right now, in your own words, from your own heart, your own prayer, you can just tell Jesus right now, and he can hear you from your own heart. You can just tell him Jesus, I believe in you, jesus, I need you. You can tell him Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross for my sin and I'm asking you to forgive me of all of my sin my past, my present, my future sin. You can tell him Jesus, I believe that you rose from the dead, you're alive and I wanna turn from my sin and I wanna follow after you, not in perfection but in direction, and I wanna live for you, I wanna know you, I wanna give my life to you, and the Bible promises that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. And, god, we thank you for that, thank you for that promise, thank you for that truth. We love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1:And all God's people said would you put your hands together for anyone that made that decision, that prayed that prayer, that believed in Jesus? We just wanna say welcome to the family. There's no greater decision in your life. As a reminder, baptism Sunday is coming up. If you need to get baptized, we would love to baptize you on that Sunday or any Sunday. There's a next step card in front of you. If God has worked in your life and maybe you want some more information, we've got some options on that next step card that you can choose from. As the band's coming out, you can choose from those options.
Speaker 1:We would love to reach out to you, give you more information that you can follow Jesus more in your life in that way, and I want you to know that we are always here praying for you. Let me pray over you one more time, heavenly Father. In Jesus' name, god, I ask that you would bless every man, every woman. God, I pray that you would bless every child and every teenager. God, I pray that you would bless every single adult and every married adult. God, that we would live a Christ-centered life, that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit, that we live for Jesus all the more. And God, that he gets the glory from our life. And, lord, I pray that you would bless every person. I pray that you would bless every family. I pray that you would bless every marriage. And, lord, may your will be done and may your glory come. All in Jesus' name. And God's people said