This sermon emphasizes the profound mystery of Christ-centered relationships, highlighting how earthly marriages are a reflection of the eternal relationship between Christ and the church. It acknowledges the pain and challenges in relationships, especially when loved ones do not follow Jesus, and encourages prayer for healing and guidance. The focus shifts to how men can display Jesus Christ in their marriages by loving their wives sacrificially, drawing parallels between the union of husband and wife and the unity of Christ and the church. Practical examples and biblical explanations are provided to illustrate the deeper spiritual significance of marriage.

If you remember three weeks ago, we started a series called Christ-centered relationships And my wife and I have been teaching that for the last few weeks In fact someone asked me today your wife's gonna be up there with you, right? No, no, it's just me and just the look of disappointment, you know It just it said it all But if you remember what we three weeks ago We talked about how there's something much bigger than marriage and we talked out of first Corinthians chapter 7 And we explained that remember marriage is not eternal Our marriage is going to last a few years and then it's done Okay And then and then we come into heaven where this eternal relationship with God and how we're all Family at that point and we also talked about how there's something bigger than marriage and that's our mission here on earth You know, our mission is not just to have a nice happy family and create a home on this earth that's not the mission the mission is to reflect Jesus Christ to show Jesus Christ to this world and Somehow during our lifetimes to have this purpose of I want to show the world not just talk about how great my God is I want to show it by the way that I love other people I want to put Christ on display and last week if you remember my wife did an outstanding job of Putting meat on those bones of fleshing that out and explaining. Okay, how do we as women? Show Christ or display Christ by the way that we treat our husbands Are we painting a correct picture of Jesus Christ by the way, we treat our husbands. In fact, just so there's no questions I am in a hundred percent agreement with everything my wife taught last week. I thought she did an amazing job In fact, I told her I don't know that I've ever heard someone lay out As well the the way that women are to biblically live out that role as wives and to reflect Jesus Christ in that way And she made some comments about how you know wives aren't to just sit there quietly and say nothing I mean the whole point of God creating that helper in that position is as men we need their wisdom And I would agree with that a hundred percent We're not made to do this by ourselves and need her wisdom as you heard her speak you realize wow There's a completeness as she's up here with me. I need that weird intuition stuff You guys have it just all you know It's it's it's just this joint thing where we work together and make it through this life together And it's it's an amazing amazing thing. It can be and you know, we got a lot of great comments back One interesting comment a couple of mentioned on this and and I want to touch on it One person said it's so well in an email. She says when I saw Francis so enamored with his wife up there It was like a dagger to my heart because it's something I've wanted so badly and and we Got different comments about pain in relationships, and I I don't want to I don't want to go on in this series without first acknowledging that there is tremendous tremendous pain Involved in relationships and in family. In fact, you are the weird strange Exception in this room if you haven't spent hours grieving over various family relationships and even weeping over different broken relationships and family you guys know I've been traveling most of the summer and And it was a conference I did a couple of weeks ago where it just everything came to a head and I was speaking on trials with these high school students and And there were thousands of these kids and they they would write on cards you know things that they were struggling with or that their friends were struggling with in Relationships and then then afterwards one of the counselors came up to me You know after I was speaking a counselor came he goes Oh, I'm so glad you spoke on trials. He goes. I kind of snuck a kid into this conference He's not quite in high school yet, but we got him in Because of the situation and he's so need to hear this message. You see he found his dad after his dad committed suicide He's the one that found the body about a year ago and had a real rough time and then he goes two weeks ago before this Camp he's at a family reunion family get-together and his mom Got a knife and started stabbing his little brothers and They were able to pull her off of the little brothers and save the two brothers lives but then as they separated her she took the knife to her own throat and killed herself and He's he's at camp this week. So I'm so glad you gave that message and I'm Meanwhile another counselor standing by listening to that and said oh man I've got a girl and she watched her husband or watched her dad kill Mom, and so then he goes to jail. She's dead. She's an orphan, you know, just And I'm sitting there and I'm listening to story after story and reading these cards of these high school students and I'm going I Sometimes forget I sometimes just forget what's going on out there and forget what's going on even in this room and I know that even as I speak on this there are There's some of you that are just grieving over relationships some of you Have experienced death in the family. That's not something you just snap out of or you get over And maybe the most painful thing we can experience on this earth as believers Is when we have a child or a spouse or a parent Who doesn't love God Who doesn't love Jesus and you you just think in your mind, I would do anything for him. I would do anything for her To get him or her to follow Jesus and yet there's only so much you can do And there's that helpless feeling of the thought of I can't imagine being separated for eternity and and Yet you're helpless because because because you can't make anyone fall in love with Jesus Christ You can't just get your husband to fall in love with Jesus Christ You can't it all these things we're telling you and we're talking about well if you do this if you do this you do this There's still no guarantee It's no guarantee that your your spouse will love Jesus guarantee that your kids will It's no guarantee that your parents will there's no guarantee that your brother or your sister will and it's the hardest thing about living on this earth it really is It's the one thing that keeps us from really longing for the return of Jesus Christ, right? Because while we selfishly go yeah come Lord Jesus come Lord Jesus there's other half of us going no not yet not yet not yet And it's absolutely devastating and I don't want to just go hey, you know, let's talk about husbands wives Whatever and not just at least stop and acknowledge and pray Because there are some of you in this room this morning that you're just absolutely wiped out. You're absolutely torn apart You're losing it. You just feel like you're absolutely losing your mind because these people you love so much are not loving God and I I don't know if there's anything more painful on this earth Here's what I'd like us to do I'd like us to pray for each other just silently I'd like to pray for you just to pray for the person on your right the person on your left just silently come before God and I'm just gonna give you a minute so you make sure you know their names and And and not only that but maybe just Real quickly just just tell the person next to your name and then maybe just say one Relationship that you'd like them to pray for you. All you gotta say is my name is Francis My wife and I you know or my brother and I you know that that type of thing and so go ahead and make sure you Know everyone's name and just just tell real quickly who you'd like them to pray for father there's some Incredibly sad people in this room There are marriages that are ready to end There are kids. They're ready to run away Parents that are ready to run God. It's not a great picture To the world of what you can do and God it breaks our heart It's not your intention for marriage or for family and so God. I just pray that you would bring your healing power into this room Overwhelm us by the power of your Holy Spirit Especially to the men this morning God help us to become the men that you've called us to be an accurate picture of Jesus Christ May people see the way that we treat our wives the way we treat our kids and may they see Jesus In us in our actions. We pray for those of our family that we love so much Who aren't in love with you? We just know how good it is to know you and I just pray for them Lord because we can't make them love you I just ask that you continue to draw them to yourself. I don't know how to pray that prayer with enough force Behind it because for a lot of us. It's we want that more than anything else on this earth speak to each one in this room today The way you always do in your unique way In Jesus name I pray amen Well this week I'm addressing the men specifically And we're talking about how men can display Jesus Christ in our marriages by the way that we treat our wives How are we painting this picture of Jesus and and maybe some practical ways to do that, but let me just Let me start off by saying okay first of all I don't think we're gonna get to the parenting part of because Just there's just too much just in being a husband and may well hit parents next week, but I I struggle with even teaching Especially the parenting part I never really want to talk on parenting because then once you do that everyone checks out your kids and make sure you know That they're perfect, and and you screw them up and But but let me just say as far as the husband part even that I struggle with Teaching this because again. I I don't want it to sound like I'm putting myself up as the example of the perfect husband That's not why my wife, and I were up here these last couple of weeks In fact it's at times you you feel inadequate to teach certain things and yesterday I was at the funeral for Glenn Jackson who was the pastor in town that died last week and Amazing amazing family man when you talk about husband and father Glenn Jackson You know it was older than I but definitely just far more mature in that area his wife got up to share And she makes this statement of her husband of like 30-something years She gets up and says you know in all those years of marriage Never once did I hear an unkind word come out of his mouth toward me And my first response was you know like come on you know like Honestly, you know it and and yet knowing Glenn It's true Man I would watch this guy interact with his wife and guys you ever meet one of those guys where you just go And would you just get mad or would you do something would you you know? But it just this is it just seemed like it wasn't even in him to say something malicious You know toward his wife or toward his kids and his daughters get up same type of thing of just this dad And and and honestly this is a part of me. That's a little envious a part of me like God Why didn't you bless me with that type of patience or whatever else? Because it really was I would watch the way he interacted with his wife and everything else and there really was a picture of Why you just go man? I can't believe how much he does for her loves her and just the kindness the warmth the affection everything okay? That's a picture of Jesus Christ. That's the way Jesus Christ loves me But for many of us men we we look at ourselves and go gosh. I'm so far from that Because I I look at myself and my one of my struggles is patience one of my biggest struggles is patience and and getting Irritated you know and bugged by people or whatever else and and I've shared this before But I remember years ago my wife. Just asked me she goes. She was honey What can you just tell me what you love the most about me? And I I just remember it was like an immediate response. I looked at her and I said Every person on this planet you bugged me the least They're romantic But she actually took it as this great compliment cuz it really was I mean that that's just because no she knows me It knows my frustrations my weaknesses and everything else And I could honestly say and I can still say gosh of everyone on the earth. She bugs me the least it's just It's just it's a great romantic relationship Ephesians 5 verse 25 So all that to say we're all working together, and don't don't look at me as The perfect example and yet at the same time let's not make these excuses of all I'm not wired this way or that way we strive after this and by the power of the Holy Spirit We seek to be Christ in a picture of Christ Ephesians 5 verse 25 says husbands love your wives Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy Cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to himself as a radiant Church without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless in The same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies he who loves his wife loves himself After all no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it. Just as Christ does the church For we are members of his body For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh This is a profound mystery, but I'm talking about Christ in the church However each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself and the wife must respect her husband I've taught this passage many times, and I have made a huge error in teaching this passage and the error is that I Early on my ministry I would leave out verse 32 Where it says this is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the church You see it's it's easy when you talk about relationships. Everyone goes to Ephesians 5 during you know wedding ceremonies. We'll go to Ephesians 5 Well, what family conferences Ephesians 5, but what we'll do is we'll we'll read the whole passage husbands Love your wife emphasize this emphasizes like oh Do you understand for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife the two become one flesh This is what profound mystery. I'm talking about Christ in the church However, each one of you must thought you know And we'll we'll kind of breeze through that part and yet the truth is is if you miss verse 32 You miss the crux of the whole passage You miss the point of this whole passage about this profound mystery But he explains okay He quotes from Genesis the whole idea of a man leaving his father and mother and cleaving to his wife Becoming one flesh and then he says that's a profound mystery And we stopped there and go. Yeah, that is a mystery that God sees us You know as two people as one he goes. No, that's not the mystery though It's a profound mystery. His point is something greater. He goes and I'm talking about Christ and The church it's this picture because the mystery is is Here you have in the Old Testament this idea of a man and a woman coming together and becoming one flesh There's no there's no mystery if that's all it is The mystery is that this coming together of a husband and wife and becoming one flesh was pointing forward to something greater and was a picture of how Christ and Us as his church his bride that somehow we Become one it was pointing to something greater Let me explain this concept to you. If you have your Bibles turn to Hebrews chapter 9 Hopefully I can give you some some biblical examples to explain this idea of this profound mystery because we've got to get this we've got to understand this in Hebrews chapter 9. Okay, let's back up a little go ahead and turn there But you know how in the Old Testament Those of you who have read through the Old Testament You'll get to this one part where they're building the temple and it bores you to death Because you read about all these measurements This must be 8 cubits high by 4 cubits wide by said, you know on and on and on and it's like chapters and chapters She's like come on, you know, what is this all about this temple and they wanted these perfect specifications and everything else Well read in Hebrews chapter 9 Versa Verse 23. I want to explain something Hebrews 9 verse 23. It's talking about this temple and it says this it was necessary then for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices But the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary That was only a copy of the true one He entered heaven itself now to appear for us in God's presence Okay, he's talking about this temple but he when talking about the temple he explains that it's a copy of Something that is in heaven Why was God so specific about all these dimensions He says because it's a picture of something far greater this temple that I want you to build on this earth This idea of the Holy of Holies the sanctuary that's here It's all a picture a copy of something much greater in heaven that I want you to have a model of that on the earth Understand that so that whole temple building and everything else. It was this copy of something that's in heaven That's greater than what we could see on earth But he wanted this replica to look really good and real precise and so we you know This has to be gold. This has to be ivory This ark has to have these specifications all this stuff because it's a picture of something greater Now you remember remember how they had all those sacrifices in the Old Testament You know how they would they would have all these specifics of okay. I want you to take a bull I want you to you know to kill him on this day I want the blood to go here then I want you to take a ram and I want you to do this with the ram Then I want you to you know on and on on these sacrifices Well if you you continue reading in Hebrews 10 in Hebrews 10 verse 4 as it's talking about these Sacrifices it explains in verse 4 of Hebrews 10. It says because it is impossible It's impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin He explains you know how in the Old Testament I had you bring these bulls and I had to bring these goats and somehow it was this a picture of Someone something paying the penalty for your sin. There's this blood sacrifice because of what you did He says those animals did not pay for your sin because it's impossible to take a bull and have the bull pay for your sin But you understand it was a picture It was a picture of something that was to come picture of something greater Is this mystery that later on and it was prophesied in the Old Testament to that there was going to come this perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and so the point of those those bulls and the goats and the sacrifices it was all Pointing to this future sacrifice the real thing that was actually going to take away their sin That was all a picture of something to come. My point is is Just like you have this temple. That's a little replica. The point is it's a copy of something greater. That's in heaven You have these Sacrifices of all these animals that were all pointing to a picture of something greater, which was going to be Christ on the cross he explains that your marriage and this union of a man and a woman coming together and becoming one flesh was just a Picture of something far greater of the thought that God and I would become one Just like a husband and wife come together and become one flesh that somehow there's a reality that me as this rod little flesh-and-blood human being could become one with my Creator That's an amazing thought that's a profound mystery that Christ and his church would have this marriage and somehow become like one flesh in the same way that a husband and wife does So understand this is not about your marriage This is not about all the greatest thing is to have this marriage No, no, no, your marriage is pointing to something greater. Just like the temple was pointing something great Just like the sacrifices were pointing to something greater That's why you know in the Old Testament when the when the priest would bring these crummy sacrifices You remember God says no, I want I want an unblemished like get the best the very best. I don't want any spot I don't want any deformity on this on this male lamb one year You know, I want you to bring it