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Built to Last: Week 2

Built to Last: Week 2

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INTRODUCTION

  • Built to Last: The Bible uses the analogy of a building for the Church and our lives.
  • Last week, we talked about the foundation: a structure built on Christ and His word.
  • This week, we’re talking about the walls and the “oneness” that God desires for us to have in our relationships in the homes.
  • Oneness (noun): The fact or state of being unified or whole, though comprised of two or more parts.1
  • God’s design for the relationships in our home spheres, or the “walls” of our lives, is for them to be unified, whole, stable, and one.

Genesis 2:18-24 18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him. 21So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man. 23“At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’” 24This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

o     God created two people out of one person and designed them to be “one.”

John 17:20-23 20I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. 21I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. 22I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.

  • God is one God, with three persons, yet one God.
  • We are all to be one as God is one—this is how we learn to be one.
  • We are able to be one because of Jesus in us.

We are all to be one, unified in our relationships through love.

ONENESS IN RELATIONSHIPS IS ACHIEVED WHEN WE SUBMIT TO GOD’S DESIGN FOR ONENESS IN RELATIONSHIP:

Ephesians 5:21-33 21And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. 24As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything. 25For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her 26to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. 27He 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. 28In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. 29No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. 30And we are members of his body. 31As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” 32This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. 33So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

  • God has roles within Himself in His oneness and unity, and He has given us roles as well in our oneness and unity. o     God the Father is the head of the Trinity; Jesus submits to the Father.
    • Jesus is the head or leader of the church; we all submit to Him.
    • We are to submit to one another because of Jesus—mutual submission.

MARRIAGE RELATIONSHIPS:

  • The husband is head or leader of the home; the wife submits to husband.
    • Headship is a responsibility to fulfill, not a privilege to abuse.
  • The wife is helper/complementer; the husband submits to the wife through selfless sacrifice.

ONENESS DOES NOT MEAN SAMENESS.

  • Complementary vs. Conformity

ONENESS COMES FROM DECIDING TO BE ONE.

  • Expectations
  • Irreconcilable differences?

ONENESS REQUIRES TRANSPARENCY AND INTIMACY.

  • Spiritual
  • Emotional
  • Physical

PARENTINGS AND CHILDREN:

  • The parents are the head of the children; children submit to their parents as they do to Jesus. (Ephesians 6:1-3)
  • Parents are to raise their children lovingly, sacrificially, with discipline, but being careful not to exasperate them. (Ephesians 6:4)

SIBLINGS AND FRIENDS:

  • Siblings and friends are to submit to one another out of love for Jesus.

RECAP:

  • God’s design for the relationships in our home spheres, or the “walls” of our lives, is for them to be unified, whole, stable, and one.
  • Oneness in relationships is achieved when we submit to God’s design for oneness in relationship.

QUESTIONS TO REFLECT AND DISCUSS:

Passages to consider: Ephesians 5:21-6:4; Philippians 2:1-4; Matthew 7:24-27

  • What insights did you gain from the sermon?
  1. Which walls in your living space are the loadbearing walls? Have you ever been a part of changing or constructing a loadbearing wall?
  2. Read Philippians 2:1-4. A) What does this passage say about relationships? B) What does this passage show about unity and oneness?
  3. What has been your experience about building unity, closeness, oneness in your most significant relationships?
    1. What has been key? B) What has been challenging?
  4. Read Ephesians 5:21-6:4. Note: Consider the season you are in regarding your home sphere. What truths stand out to you?
  5. What loadbearing walls are you building in your key relationships? A) What “wall” do you want to give some attention to? B) What would that look like? Think about what applies to you at this time: marriage, parenting, extended family, and significant friendships.
  6. Inspection challenge: Take intentional time this week to inspect the unity and authenticity of your key relationships. Listen to each other; listen to God. What do you discover?

Passages to prepare for next week, Built to Last (Week 3) The Roof: Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyri