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Kingdom of Right Relationships

Kingdom of Right Relationships. Part 6 Loving Your Significant Others Matthew 22:34-40 Genesis 2:18-25. The Kingdom of Right Relationships. Matthew 22:34-40.

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Kingdom of Right Relationships

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  1. Kingdom of Right Relationships Part 6 Loving Your Significant Others Matthew 22:34-40 Genesis 2:18-25

  2. The Kingdom of Right Relationships Matthew 22:34-40 • 34But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” • 37Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’38This is the first and great commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’40On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

  3. The Great Commandment • The commandment is positive • The love is distinctive • agape • God • Self • Others • Agape is a love that desires only the highest good for its object

  4. God Other believers The World The most important relationship in life = God and me! The vertical relationship carries all the weight of the horizontal relationships Me

  5. The Love of God • Romans 5:5 • And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (NLT) • Loving God - out of this relationship all others flow! • Genesis 2 • Not good for man to be alone • So God creates woman out of man • Out of this human relationship all other human relationships flow!

  6. Genesis 2:18-25 • And the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion who will help him.” • So the LORD God formed from the soil every kind of animal and bird. He brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam chose a name for each one. • He gave names to all the livestock, birds, and wild animals. But still there was no companion suitable for him. • So the LORD God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. He took one of Adam’s ribs and closed up the place from which he had taken it. • Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam.

  7. Genesis 2:18-25 • “At last!” Adam exclaimed. “She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of a man.” • This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. • Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.

  8. The Problem of Loneliness • Understanding Loneliness • Solitude - a situation where one is alone by CHOICE • To reflect, meditate, or simply enjoy solitary activites such as writing, drawing, reading, etc. • Every one needs some solitude from time to time • Loneliness - a feeling of dissatisfaction with relationships with other people • Social loneliness • As when a person goes to college or takes a job in a new town and are isolated from friends and family • Emotional loneliness • When we feel that we have no one to talk to, no one who understands our deepest concerns and needs

  9. The Problem of Loneliness • Solitude • Enriches and energizes • Builds a desire to be involved • Loneliness • Detracts and debilitates • Robs motivation to be involved • Can provoke a vicious cycle of despair • Shys away from social contact and support needed to overcome the loneliness

  10. How People React to Loneliness • Active solitude • Become engrossed in activity that we enjoy and enriche life • Praying, listening to music, reading, exercising • Social action • Calling or visiting a friend or relative; helping someone less fortunate • Deliberate action breaks the isolation and involves us with others • Distraction • Doing something to take our minds off our loneliness • Going for a drive, or shopping, or to a movie • Only a temporary solution • Sad passivity • Continues to feel badly • Does nothing to positively impact the problem • Leads to a downward spiral of depression • Sleeping too much, overeating and self-medicating

  11. “Good News” – John 16:32 • No one needs to be convinced that loneliness is one of the great tragic themes of life today! • Novelists, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers • Can the Bible add anything new about sin in this area? • The good news of the Gospel • Jesus came to redeem us from sin! • Meaningful relationships between "significant people“ is possible through the grace of God! • When one walks with God, they are never truly alone • John 16:32 - Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

  12. Christian Response to Loneliness • Being lonely may be a symptom of a more serious problem • When a person suffers from loneliness, their relationship with God and others needs help • What you can know • There is nothing a person wants more than to be rescued from estrangement with others • God's great promise to us in Christ is that we no longer have to be strangers • God's love for us in Jesus Christ, enables us to be vulnerable, to affirm ourselves and to affirm others

  13. Loving without Christ • Without Christ loving is difficult! • In the secular world people talk about loneliness but not know how to deal with it • The walls of separation grow up • Between friends • Between parents and children • Between husbands and wives • Why? • Because people do not affirm one another • Because people do not dare reveal things about their problems in life

  14. The Church • Should be the place we find God's answer • Deep, loving, meaningful, relationships with others • But, sadly, we find people • Denying their loneliness - it seems to be somehow "unchristian" • Pretending to be better than they are (play acting = hypocrisy) • Shutting the door to meaningful relationships based on honesty and transparency • No one is lonelier than two Christians living together and pretending to be better than they are! • Astonishing miracles occur when Christians stop playing games! • The power of God to transform life has made available in Christ • Because of this power and our security in God’s love, we can love each other enough to reveal things about ourselves that could be threatening

  15. God’s Solution • So where does God’s solution for loneliness begin? • Where the problem first began, Genesis 2:18-25! • This is a special passage of Scripture! • The need and desire (on Adam’s part) • The caring and love (on God’s part) • The promise and provision (by God)

  16. God’s Solution for Loneliness • A Companion – v. 18 • God planned woman • Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” • The creation of woman is discussed in great detail • Why? • To establish the relationship between man and woman forever! • Man and woman are totally dependent upon each other • Man and woman desperately need each other • God needed to reveal this fact for all generations

  17. God’s Solution for Loneliness • God’s purpose is clearly stated in verse 18 • Woman was created because it was not good for man to be alone • “not good” = incomplete, unfinished, unfulfilled • Without woman, man would have no suitable companion for love and comfort • Without woman, man would have no person with whom to share life • Mankind’s most basic problem • Loneliness, emptiness, incompleteness, unfulfillment • It is not new! • It is at the root of all problems in life

  18. God’s Solution for Loneliness • God’s plan for man and woman to help each other requires 2 things: • The willingness to help • The willingness to accept the offered help • Romans 15:7 “Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us to the glory of God” • Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” • Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his companion: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he does not have another to help him up”

  19. God’s Solution for Loneliness • There is no record of Adam complaining about his loneliness • He fellowshipped with God • When God was all he knew, all he had, God was enough • When and we are forced to be alone, God will make His presence enough! • Matthew 28:20 “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” • Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for He Himself has said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you”

  20. God’s Solution for Loneliness • In His love for us God sees and cares • God saw Adam’s need, and He sees our need • If we walk with God as Adam walked, God will meet our need • 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you” • Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus”

  21. Man’s Need for Companionship Genesis 2:19-25 • God is relational • We were made relational by God when He created us in the image of God! • When we are alone God shows us our need for companionship and relationships • God’s made Adam alone to show man his great need for a companion just like himself

  22. Man’s Need for Companionship Genesis 2:19-20 • Picture Adam studying and observing the animals • Every living animal has a companion just like itself—except him! • Some people give more attention and affection to animals than to their own spouses or children • They substitute animals for relationships with those who are supposed to be their loved ones • Sometimes the animals are more loving and accepting than our loved ones! • “God, make me the kind of person my dog thinks I am”

  23. Man’s Need for Companionship Genesis 2:22-25 • God was showing Adam his need for woman • It had a tremendous impact upon Adam! • It made Adam love and appreciate his wife far more than if God had created her at the same time he was created – vv. 22-25 • When God created Eve, Adam was longing for her with an intense desire

  24. Genesis 2:22-25 • Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib and brought her to Adam. • “At last!” Adam exclaimed. “She is part of my own flesh and bone! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of a man.” • This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. • Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.

  25. God’s Purpose in Creating Woman • God created the woman to explain the basic need of every person • Genesis 2:18a “It is not good that man should be alone” • A striking contrast with the original creation of God that is called “very good” - Genesis 1:31 • From the beginning God intended to teach all people that it is not good to be isolated from other human beings! • We may want to be alone at times, but to live without personal relationships, is not the original intention of God

  26. God’s Purpose in Creating Woman • Proverbs 18:1 • “A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment” • We all need friends • People with whom we can share our ideas, dreams, goals, burdens, struggles, and needs • Men can be close friends with other men, and women with women • But God started with a male and a female • God’s design was to meet our deepest need in the best way possible

  27. The Importance of God’s Laws • Without God’s laws for our relationships, all our relationships are harmed • Problems in relationships come when self‑gratification becomes the motive for male‑female relationships • When the motive is primarily self-gratification, the relationship can easily be destroyed • This damages all our other relationships • With God • With self • With others

  28. The Proper Motivation • God said “I will make him a helper comparable to him” - v. 18b • God created the woman to establish the motivation behind all human relationships • The original plan of God is seen in the word “helper” • This is at the root of all good relationships in life! • All relationships, but especially Male‑female relationship, would greatly improve if our sincere desire were to be a “helper”

  29. The Proper Motivation • To give rather than receive • Heart of agape love • Fulfills God’s original purpose for male‑female relationships • There is an interdependency when male-female relationships are what God intended them to be • The goal • To not use people to meet our needs • To do all we can to help the other person become all that God wants that person to be • To seek the very best for them the way God does! • This is the formula for a lasting marriage relationship!

  30. Outcomes of This Relationship • The Marriage Relationship in God’s Kingdom • Husband’s Love for His Wife • Wants the best for her – fulfill her needs as God sees them. • Woman’s Love for Her Husband • Wants the best for him – fulfill his needs as God sees them. • The Family • A Father’s Love for His Children • A Mother’s Love for Her Children • Children’s Love for Their Parents • The Spiritual Family • Spiritual Fathers and Mothers • The Discipling Relationship • The “Friends” Relationship

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