In our final week of So You Said I Do, we explore what Christian marriage CAN BE. Too often we look at what isn’t happening in life and love rather than be reminded and excited about what’s possible.

3. 29-33 No one abuses his own body, does he? No, he feeds
and pampers it. That’s how Christ treats us, the church, since
we are part of his body. And this is why a man leaves father
and mother and cherishes his wife. No longer two, they
become “one flesh.” This is a huge mystery, and I don’t
pretend to understand it all. What is clearest to me is the way
Christ treats the church. And this provides a good picture of
how each husband is to treat his wife, loving himself in loving
her, and how each wife is to honor her husband.
EPHESIANS 5:29-33 TMSG

4. a beautiful covenant
1

5. JOHN PIPER::
When God stands as witness to the covenant
promises of a marriage it becomes more than a
merely human agreement. God is not a passive
bystander at a wedding ceremony. In effect he says,
I have seen this, I confirm it and I record it in heaven.
And I bestow upon this covenant by My presence
and My purpose the dignity of being an image of My
own covenant with My wife, the church.

6. a purposeful union
2

7. C. S. LEWIS::
Love as distinct from "being in love" is not merely
a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will
and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced
by the grace which both partners ask, and receive
from God. They can have this love for each other
even at those moments when they do not like
each other; as you love yourself even when you
do not like yourself.

8. “DON’T LOOK
FOR THE
FINISHED
STATUE.
LOOK FOR A
GREAT BLOCK
OF MARBLE”

9. a divine reflection
3

10. 25 For husbands, this means love your wives, just
as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for
her 26 to make her holy and clean, washed by the
cleansing of God’s word. 27 He did this to present
her to himself as a glorious church without a spot
or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will
be holy and without fault.
EPHESIANS 5:25-27 NLT

11. HE DIDN’T LOVE
US BECAUSE
WE WERE
LOVELY, HE
LOVED US TO
MAKE US
LOVELY.

12. JOHN MacARTHUR::
What higher motive could there be for the
husband to love his wife? By loving her as Christ
loved the church, he honours Christ in the most
direct and graphic way. He becomes the
embodiment of Christ's love to his own wife, a
living example to the rest of his family, a channel
of blessing to his entire household, and a powerful
testimony to a watching world.

13. take full responsibility.
1

14. forgive one another.
2

15. develop deep friendship.
3

16. pursue oneness.
4

17. serve potential.
5

18. faithfully persevere in
what you are creating.
passionately serve
who you are becoming.