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This past Sunday, during a message entitled Picture Imperfect, we looked at how God in His sovereignty created the covenant of marriage to be an imperfect earthly picture of a perfect heavenly truth – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  At the conclusion of the message, I shared my dream of growing old together with with my bride, Bridget.  I so much desire to be a couple that is blessed with 30, 40, 50 years of marriage together!

Bridget and I celebrated 16 years of marriage in June.  I still have a lot to learn about being married, about Bridget, and about loving my bride.  But one thing that the Lord has taught me about marriage is that we can’t do it alone.  The letter to the Hebrew church instructs us to, “…encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Heb 3:13)

It’s so easy for me to listen to world around me, to develop a negative picture about my marriage, to start questioning Bridget’s motives – to become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  That’s why I need people by my side daily to speak encouraging truth into my life and my marriage.  I stand convinced that the only way Bridget & I will be that older couple – holding hands, dancing, and enjoying life together into the later years – is by walking alongside other brothers and sisters in Christ that share that dream!

So how about you?  Do you share that dream for your marriage?  If so, I invite you to be a part of that adventure with other married couples that share our dream.  As we strive to make RBC a beacon for marriages in Northern Virginia, there are numerous ways to connect with other couples and begin forming community.  You can join us this Sunday morning at HomeFront, the RBC couples community, as we begin our next series (details below) or sign up for the upcoming Marriage Booster on Friday, September 18th.

We hope to see you there!!

HomeFront August Series: THAT’S NOT WHAT I ORDERED!
We’ve all rolled away from the drive-thru window and figured out that we didn’t get what we wanted. Either the food in the bag doesn’t quite look like the picture or they gave us something wrong entirely. Is that the way we feel about our marriage sometimes?  The guy I was dating used to… When we were engaged, I loved how she… This doesn’t look like the picture at all. Or worse – did God mess up my marriage order all together? Join us at HomeFront in August as we discuss That’s Not What I Ordered!

In last Sunday’s message, Picture Imperfect, we looked at how God in His sovereignty created the covenant of marriage to be an imperfect earthly picture of a perfect heavenly truth – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As part of this message, we discussed the call of a wife to submit to her husband (Eph 5:22) and the call of a husband to love his wife (Eph 5:25).

Both of these calls present a challenge because women are generally not submission-oriented and men are generally not love-oriented.  Not only can we observe this in our marriages and the marriages around us, but we know it’s true because of the curses placed on man and woman after the Fall (Gen 3:16-19).  Only with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit are we able submit as the church submits to Christ (Eph 5:24) and love as Christ loved the church (Eph 5:25).

So what does it look like for a wife to submit to her husband?  And what does it look like for a husband to love his wife?  Though there isn’t a step-by-step guide for either, here are some ideas from me and my wife Bridget to consider for your marriage.

Wives: Submit (from Bridget)
Pray for your heart and a desire to submit to your husband
Pray for your husband – asking God to lead him
Give your opinion and trust that it was heard when a decision is made
Verbally affirm his decisions and be willing to be on board (even when you may not agree)
Never say “I told you so”

Husbands: Love (from Jason)
Pray for your heart and a desire to love your wife
Pray for your wife – asking God to lead her
Become a student of your wife – seeking to understand how she desires for you to show her love
Observe your surroundings and find ways to serve your wife (For example – plan all the details for a date night)
Seek your wife’s wisdom on decisions and be willing to choose her preference (even when it isn’t your first choice)

Remember the wisdom of the elderly couple that spoke to Bridget and I?  The overarching principle is to put your spouse first, which echoes what Paul tells the church in Phillipi, “Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” (Phil 2:3)  Who better to count more significant than yourself than your spouse?

This past Sunday, during a message entitled Picture Imperfect, we looked at how God in His sovereignty created the covenant of marriage to be an imperfect earthly picture of a perfect heavenly truth – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As part of this message, we defined marriage to be the union between one man and one woman – as instituted by God in Genesis 2:24 and repeated throughout both the New and Old Testaments.

This stands in stark contrast to what we’ve been seeing in the news recently.  In June, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that state-level bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment.  This decision will have far-reaching effects throughout our nation and the world.

Some of you have questions as to what exactly this decision means, how it impacts the nation, and how it impacts the church.  Here is the best message I’ve heard on the topic thus far.  It was given by Pastor Gary Hamrick at Cornerstone Church in Leesburg: America, Will You Stand?

As far as how the church should respond, I thought that our own Pastor Mike Minter did an excellent job articulating how a Follower of Christ should respond to issues of broken sexuality in a 3-part series he did at the beginning of this year.  Here is a link to that series, Sexuality & the Gospel.