Study

The Best Marriage

Ben Stuart

4 Days

The Original Mission of Marriage

Day 1

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Family brokenness isn’t anything new to humanity. We see it in the very first family ever created—a husband and wife choosing sin and a brother murdering a brother out of a fit of jealousy and rage. This is our origin story, but it doesn’t have to be the conclusion of our individual stories.

Instead of rejecting the institution of marriage, we can recognize the counterfeit of what society has made a union out to be and choose to pursue marriage the way it was initially intended.

Summary

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Genesis 2:18

This institution was founded by God Himself, yet after the fall, it was twisted to serve another master: ourselves.

When we revisit the story of Lamech in Genesis 4, we see what happens when we stray from God and serve our ego instead. Not only do we see vengefulness and wickedness in Lamech, we see how he treats his wives as if they were disposable. This is a very real reflection of what marriage can look like without God at the center.

God wants more for us. In our woundedness, He sent a hero to forgive, rescue, and redeem us. We can now be controlled by the Spirit of God and walk with Him.

As we walk with Him, we invite Him into every aspect of our lives, including our love lives. Marriage, designed by God, was intended to display something about God, and when we use it in this context, we, and generations to follow, will flourish.

Marriage can be filled with poetry, beauty, vulnerability, and safety when God is at the center. Women are valued, men are elevated to act like sons of God, and children win.

Not only can Jesus mend generational family brokenness through marriage, but the beauty of Christian marriage can lure people to know Jesus.

What’s next?

This may be a great time to evaluate your perception of marriage. Start by reading Ephesians 5:22–27.

Did these verses align with your perception of marriage? Why or why not?
Which of these verses stand out to you the most?

Scripture References

18The

Lord

God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

22Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.

23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,

27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

29After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—

30for we are members of his body.

2Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Ben Stuart

Ben Stuart is the pastor of Passion City Church D.C. Prior to joining Passion City Church, Ben served as the executive director of Breakaway Ministries on the campus of Texas A&M. He also earned a master’s degree in historical theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Donna, live to inspire and equip people to walk with God for a lifetime.