Session Outline and - Clover Sites
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Marriage: Covenant or Contract
Basil Marotta Jericho Ministries
*Some material from teaching by Robert Morris and Jimmy Evans
Session Outline: Marriage is the cornerstone that God chose to build the family. The family is the center of civilization. Healthy marriages lead to healthy families. At the center of every family God established a foundational union, a covenant relationship between a man and a woman. They were to become one flesh.
Covenant: . the conditional promises made to humanity by God, as revealed in Scripture.; the agreement between God and the ancient Israelites, in which God promised to protect them if they kept His law and were faithful to Him.
Contract: an agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of something specified.; an agreement enforceable by law.
In today’s world we are driven by contacts…..legal documents. …when we buy a house, a car, establish other business arrangements, they are governed by contract…these have become necessary to protect ourselves. Both parties want to protect their rights and limit their responsibilities. Basically, you want to get the most out of it by investing the least amount possible. At the same time you want to make sure that there are provisions set that give you an out if the other party fails to hold up their end of the deal.
Is this what God intended for marriage? Yet today, too many of the marriages are contractual and not covenant based. We see pre-nuptial agreements…some are even proposing “starter marriages.” More and more people are simply living together…there has been a loss of commitment in marriage that God intended. Even in the church we are seeing as many divorces as in the culture. Contracts don’t work in marriage.
What is the solution…
We must go back to what God intended…that marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman and God. God is to be the center of our marriage. How do we do this…
In a covenant marriage we must each agree to give up our rights. (Gen 2:24 NIV) For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
The day we marry God intends us to leave behind the most important relationship in your life up to that point so that your marriage relationship becomes first priority. In the spiritual realm, God intends to be number one in our lives, but in the physical realm, nothing is to take a higher priority than your husband or wife…career, money, possessions, other relationships
A contract spirit says, “I will remain number one in my life and I will do what I want, when I want, how I want. Nothing you say or do is more important than my desires.”
In a contract marriage, one or the other spouse clings to this…Don’t demand too much of me. Don’t ask me to give up what I like. If you push too much, I am out of here.”
A covenant spirit says, “I give you the right to be first priority in my life and protect that place against anything or anyone that you believe is competition.” This is the security that a woman really is looking for from her mate.
Scripture tells us…
(Eph 5:25-33 NIV) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her {26} to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, {27} and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. {28} In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. {29} After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- {30} for we are members of his body. {31} "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." {32} This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. {33} However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
Is the reason you married greater than the pressure that will bear on the marriage?
Question: Are you living in a contract or covenant type marriage? What can you do to restore it to the covenant God intended?
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|Some scriptures re God’s covenant with us…. | |
|(Gen 9:11 NIV) I establish my covenant with you (Noah): Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a| |
|flood to destroy the earth." | |
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|(Gen 17:1-4 NIV) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty ; walk before me and be blameless. | |
|{2} I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers." {3} Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, {4} "As | |
|for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. | |
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|(Gen 17:7 NIV) I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to | |
|come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. | |
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|(Gen 17:9 NIV) Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. | |
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|(Exo 2:24-25 NIV) God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. {25} So God looked on the | |
|Israelites and was concerned about them. | |
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|(Exo 34:10 NIV) Then the LORD said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in | |
|all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. | |
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|(Gen 17:11-12 NIV) You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. {12} For the generations to come | |
|every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner--those| |
|who are not your offspring. | |
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|(1 Cor 7:18-20 NIV) Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was | |
|called? He should not be circumcised. {19} Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts. {20} Each | |
|one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. | |
|In the new covenant with Jesus circumcision of the flesh no longer is required….it is circumcision of the heart. | |
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