Pastor Mac Hammond | March 13, 2022

Recap:
God created humanity to have dominion here on this earth, but individuals weren’t intended to have dominion alone. God created male and female to come together through marriage to become one flesh. In that union, God’s intended characteristics for humankind unite. Male and female work together to have authority and dominion on this earth. This past weekend, Pastor Mac continued in his series Mysteries of the Kingdom to talk about this mystery of a one-flesh marriage.

Dive Deeper:
The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus about marriage, and he specifically noted that marriage between a male and a female mirrors the relationship with Christ and the church. So what does that mean? Well, the degree to which you become one flesh in your marriage defines the degree to which you can become one flesh with the Lord.

You see, God has a position for male and female within a relationship. Both are equal partners and equally valuable. When a decision comes where both spouses are not in agreement, the husband is ultimately the one whom God has given the final authority in that area. The goal, however, should be that decisions can be agreed upon in unity.

This unified place comes when both spouses choose to love each other without condition. Now, if that feels impossible to you, know that you can bring your spouse up to the level where you wish your spouse would be through your expectation. If you only expect your spouse to act the same way that he or she has always acted, nothing will change. If you, however, choose to pray for your spouse, and then expect your spouse to become all God has called them to be, your spouse will be drawn to become that person.

Remember that choosing to love your spouse without condition is what makes a marriage work well!

Read More:
Genesis 1:27–28 KJV
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 2:20–24 KJV
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Ephesians 5:22–33 KJV
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

 
Discussion Questions:
1. If you are married, how is your marriage right now? If you aren’t married, what qualities does this message encourage you to look for in a spouse?
2. Have you seen how your expectations of the people in your life can set the stage for them to stay where they are or become a better person?
3. What is the difference between equality and submission within a marriage?