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Dying To Meet Your Spouse’s Needs

 

Series: Improving Companionship In Your Marriage #1

 

INTRODUCTION 

 

Let’s look at Genesis 2. After God had created Adam, he saw a problem:

 

18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. (Genesis 2:18)

 

A lot of Christians think of “help meet” as one word—as a title or a job description. But that’s not what it means—it’s two words. “Meet” is an old word that means “suitable” or “fit.” The Hebrew phrase literally means, “a helper like his opposite.” 

 

In other words, Eve was to be a companion to Adam that filled in the gaps in his abilities and character. She was his opposite. They were to fit together like puzzle pieces—and not just in the physical sense, but also in a emotional sense, and in terms of roles and responsibilities. 

 

From this verse, we can see a fundamental purpose of marriage: to provide companionship. There are other purposes of marriage, raising children, for instance. But companionship is a fundamental purpose of marriage that should be true in every marriage. 

 

It’s improving that purpose in our marriage that will be our goal in this series of lessons. It is a very limited series in that sense. We won’t be talking much about children and parenting, for example—only focusing on improving the aspect of companionship in our marriages.

 

Let me say a word to those of you who are not currently married—why should this interest you? Two reasons: First, you might be married or married again one day. 

 

Second, the principles that we uncover will be useful in any relationship that you have, not just the marriage relationship. Please don’t shut down because you are unmarried—there will be something for you.

 

In this lesson, we want to talk about meeting our spouse’s needs. I’ve titled it “Dying to Meet Your Spouse’s Needs.” What do I mean by “dying”? Well, I’m not going to tell you yet! I want you to think about what that might mean and entail.

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Compassion Drove Jesus To The Cross—Luke 13:31-35

INTRODUCTION

 

31 The same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, Get thee out, and depart hence: for Herod will kill thee. 

 

32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. 33 Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem. 

 

34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! 

 

35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Luke 13:31–35)

 

Mothers will do almost anything to protect their children, won’t they? 

 

One mom found herself in a trapped in burning third story apartment with her 18 month old son. What did she do? She grabbed the baby tightly in her arms and jumped out the window. She has had to have back surgery, but the son only had a scratch on him.

 

A Kentucky mother shielded her children from flying debris during a tornado. She lost parts of both her legs, but the children are safe.

 

A cougar attacked a little girl, but it didn’t count on the girl’s mother who dived in-between it and the girl. The mom stood up with the cougar on her back and threw it off. The little girl’s response? “Why didn’t the kitty play nice?” (https://www.theloop.ca/12-moms-who-defied-death-to-save-their-children/)

 

Stories like these could be multiplied by the thousands. What drives a mom to protect her children—even to risk her life for them? Love and compassion.

 

What drove Jesus to die for us? We find out in this passage that it’s a mother’s compassion. Just as a mother’s compassion drives her to be committed to her mission—her children—so Jesus’s compassion drove him to be committed to his mission—the cross.

 

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Jesus’s Salvation Invitation—Luke 13:22-30

INTRODUCTION

22 And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? 

And he said unto them, 24 Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. 25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are: 26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets. 27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. 

28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. 29 And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. (Luke 13:22-30)

This passage begins with a question that someone asks Jesus: 

Luke 13:22 And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Luke 13:23 Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them, 

Notice how Luke continues to emphasize Jesus’s march to Jerusalem. His mission is to die on the cross and Luke wants us to see how determined he was to complete that mission.

Along the way he gets this question from a man. During Jesus’s ministry, he answered a lot of questions; some were honest questions and some were questions designed to trap him. 

What prompted this man to ask the question that he did? Did he ask this sarcastically? Or was it an honest question? Continue reading →

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A Small Seed And A Little Leaven—Luke 13:18-21

INTRODUCTION

In the last passage, we saw Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. He healed a woman and confronted the hypocritical ruler of the synagogue when he objected to healing on the sabbath. Now we get a piece of what Jesus was teaching that day…

18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. 20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. (Luke 13:18–21)

Jesus moves from the miracle of the healing of the woman to discussing the kingdom of God. I think the link is that the healing was just a small indication of the coming of the kingdom, in the same way that a small mustard seed produces a large tree. Let’s see how that plays out. First…

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We All Need To Repent Before Grace Runs Out—Luke 13:1-9

INTRODUCTION

 

Another hurricane is bearing down on the East coast. Ranked as a category 4 storm, it’s expected to do a lot of damage. It’s possible that people will die as a result. Natural disasters damage property, take lives, and leave people homeless. These are what we call natural evil. 

 

Moral evil, on the other hand, is evil that is directly caused by man. Murders, rape, sex-trafficking, abortions are just a few ways that this evil rears it’s head. 

 

Whether it’s moral evil or natural evil, people often still ask the same question: “How could God allow this to happen?” A biblical answer will include such things as the curse on Creation and the free will of man. But have you ever wondered how Jesus himself would answer?

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Giving God The Glory—Selected Texts

Giving God The Glory—Selected Texts

 

INTRODUCTION

 

As Christians, we know from the Bible that God wants us to give him the glory and no one or nothing else. In Isaiah, we read,

 

9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, And for my praise will I refrain for thee, That I cut thee not off. 10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. 11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: For how should my name be polluted? And I will not give my glory unto another. (Isaiah 48:9–11)

 

We who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ want to glorify God in our lives. Of course, we should avoid worshiping modern-day idols like money, entertainment, drugs and so forth, but glorifying God is more than not doing certain things. There are also positive things that we should be doing—and those are what we’ll be looking at in this lesson. We’ll look at seven ways (and there are more) that we can glorify God.

 

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