Marriage and Redemption (e)

Driving home: Nothing in the redemptive directive to Christian husbands is intended to dilute, let alone to neutralize the clear teaching of the husbands' divinely established male leadership. Rather, the directive to Christian husban…

The directives to husbands are likened to stripping off 'tattered, smelly, moth-eaten garments of a sin-infested headship' and clothing it with the 'beautiful, clean, fragrant garment of Christ-like headship,' illustrating the purifying effect of redemption on male leadership.

In relationship to his church. Now I want to park on that matter by way of application for a little bit because it's critical. The purpose of these directives to Christian husbands is to strip from the institution of marriage the tattered, smelly, moth-eaten garments of a sin-infested headship, and in its place to clothe male headship with the beautiful, the clean, the fragrant garment of Christ-like headship. You got the imagery?

13:53 - 14:32 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Redemption equals an egalitarian marriage, where you have equal partners mutually submitting to one another without any concept of authoritative headship deposited in the husband.

Martin compares 'evangelical feminist' to an 'oxymoron' like 'a hateful, loving man,' to highlight his view that the terms are contradictory for someone who believes the Bible.

Now why do I make that emphasis so forcefully? For this simple reason. The so-called evangelical feminist movement, and I don't like to use the terminology, to me it's an oxymoron. To me it's like talking about a hateful, loving man.

15:01 - 15:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Have your understanding and conscience riveted to your Bible when facing sophisticated forms of feminism in Christian colleges.

A story of a courageous woman who challenged evangelical feminists by quoting Ephesians 5:24, demonstrating the biblical refutation of their egalitarian views on marriage.

And one eminently brilliant, thoroughly biblically committed, astute, courageous woman you can tell I really respect her. She went to a convention of these so-called evangelical feminists. And when they were spewing out this stuff that headship was a matter of the result of the fall and they misinterpret and misapply Genesis 3.16 thy desire to be to thy husband he shall rule over thee, something spoken after the fall, that the closer we come to an ideal, redeemed marriage, the closer we will come to a total egalitarian marriage in which the concepts of submission and headship are obliterated.

16:34 - 17:15 Read in full sermon

The point: Go home and write over 1 Corinthians 13 in your Bible: 'This is what I am and to be and to do in relation to my wife.'

Martin quotes Lutheran commentator Lenski's definition of agape love ('full understanding and true comprehension coupled with a corresponding blessed purpose') to provide a theological framework for understanding the commanded love.

What then is this agape love? One of the most helpful brief descriptions and definitions, and he sticks with it all the way through his commentaries, is given by Lenski, my favorite Lutheran commentator. And Lenski, in opening up John 3 16, for God so loved the world, he gives this seminal definition of what that kind of agape love is. And he refers to it again and again throughout his commentary.

29:10 - 29:41 Read in full sermon

The point: Go home and write over 1 Corinthians 13 in your Bible: 'This is what I am and to be and to do in relation to my wife.'

God's love for the 'sinful, foul, stinking world' is used as an example of agape love, demonstrating that it is not based on the object's loveliness but on a purposeful will to cleanse and redeem.

In all of its ugliness, in all of its vileness, in all of its rebellion and hell deservingness, with full understanding and true comprehension coupled with a corresponding blessed purpose. That purpose being that in the sending of His Son, He would rescue a people through the death of His Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Then he goes on to say, how could God like the sinful, foul, stinking world? How could He embrace and kiss it? He would have to turn from it in revulsion. But He could, and He did love it. Comprehending all its sin and foulness, ...

30:09 - 31:03 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section delves into the meaning of 'agape' love, clarifying that it is a commanded duty, not merely a feeling one 'falls into' or 'out of.' Martin uses Lenski's definition of…

The command to love enemies is used to further illustrate agape love, showing it's not about romantic feelings but a disposition to overcome enmity and do good, even when the object is unlovable.

in the command to love our enemies. This is the same word used. When Paul says, Husband, love your wives, it's the same word used in the same form when we're told to love our enemies. Am I to get Twitter painted over my enemies and get the fuzzies over my enemies and feel romantic drawing and attachment to my enemies? Of course not.

31:03 - 31:25 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a disposition and choose a course of action in realistic interaction with your wives that shows her needs are more important than your present desires, even when they do things that would make you bitter.

A personal example of a husband choosing to take down the laundry basket for his wife, even when he has other desires, illustrates that commanded love involves choosing actions that prioritize the wife's needs.

That means, if I know that in her present state of weakness she needs to have somebody take the laundry basket down two levels to the laundry room, and I've got something else at that moment I want to do. The love commanded means what? That I maintain a disposition and choose a course of action in that realistic interaction that shows her needs are more important than my present desires. Paul captures this in the parallel passage in Colossians 3 where he gives a condensed table of family laws.

33:50 - 34:31 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a disposition and choose a course of action in realistic interaction with your wives that shows her needs are more important than your present desires, even when they do things that would make you bitter.

Martin shares that he still feels 'head over heels all in love' with his wife after 46 years, but clarifies that this romantic feeling is not the commanded love, which is more stable and rooted.

The love commanded is not rooted in the elusive and mysterious chemistry of romantic attraction. It may be surrounded with it at any given point in a marriage when you will feel head over heels all in love with your wife. I feel that way at times even after 46 years. But that's not the love commanded here.

36:42 - 37:04 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a disposition and choose a course of action in realistic interaction with your wives that shows her needs are more important than your present desires, even when they do things that would make you bitter.

The cartoon characters Bambi and Feline are referenced to highlight the elusive and mysterious nature of romantic attraction, contrasting it with the commanded, rooted love.

It's not rooted in this elusive and mysterious chemistry of romantic attraction. Why does Bambi get twitterpated with Feline and not with another Doe? Shall we resurrect Walt Disney and ask him? Why do you get twitterpated with John and not with Henry?

37:04 - 37:26 Read in full sermon

The point: Maintain a disposition and choose a course of action in realistic interaction with your wives that shows her needs are more important than your present desires, even when they do things that would make you bitter.

Martin recounts his own 'excessive twitterpation' upon seeing his wife in 1952, emphasizing the inexplicable and mysterious nature of initial romantic attraction, which is distinct from the commanded love.

And with Mary and not with Salary? Romantic involvement is a most elusive thing. Very elusive. Very mysterious. Poets write dreams about it. And philosophers stretch their great brains until they're weary and poop out. Mysterious and elusive. Why in the world did I get a dose of excessive twitterpation in the spring of 1952 when I saw that woman that sits here this morning?

37:26 - 38:08 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin offers three contrasting statements to further define commanded love: it's a disposition and course of action in realistic interaction, not a feeling in detached…

The instinctive act of a child running to their mother to remove a sliver is used to illustrate that loving one's own body is natural and does not need to be taught, serving as a pattern for how husbands should love their wives.

You don't need to have anybody teach you what it is to love your own body. Your mama didn't have to teach you when you got a sliver. You got to come to her and tell her take it out. You came running, my body.

39:30 - 39:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Learn this kind of love, as it does not come naturally but must be acquired in the dynamics of grace and biblical standards.

The analogy of the stable ocean floor and the fluctuating waves above it illustrates that the commanded love is a constant, undisturbed foundation, while romantic passion may vary in intensity.

I want you to think of the ocean floor. Solid, stable ocean floor. Some of you say, oh yes, but there are...

45:08 - 45:16 Read in full sermon