Life University: Marriage Edition

GOD

Week Four: A Great Marriage is a Romantic Dance.

1. Marriage Roles were Designed by God for Husbands and Wives. 2. Marriage Roles were Distorted as a Result of the Fall. 3. Marriage Roles are Defined as Head and Helper.

WEEK FOUR COMMITMENT: Husbands: I Commit to Lovingly Lead My Wife as a Servant Leader. Wives: I Commit to Respectfully Follow My Husband as Hs Honored Helper.

Week Five: A Great Marriage is a Contact Sport.

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 1. Our different approaches to sex deserve mutual awareness and respect.

MALE & FEMALE PHYSICAL RESPONSIVENESS: MEN WOMEN Physical Relational Relational Physically Oneness

For men: Emotional intimacy flows from physical intimacy. For women: Physical intimacy flows from emotional intimacy. The Cycle of Isolation results when one spouse withholds physical intimacy for emotional intimacy– or vice versa.

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 1. Our different approaches to sex deserve mutual awareness and respect. 2. Sex is more than pleasurable– it is powerful to help or hurt our marriage (1 Cor. 6:12-20)

15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your

body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:15-20

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 1. Our different approaches to sex deserve mutual awareness and respect. 2. Sex is more than pleasurable– it is powerful to help or hurt our marriage (1 Cor. 6:12-20) 3. Absence of sex creates distance, but practice of sex can bridge distance.

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 4. Ministry, as a model, applies to sex (1 Cor. 7:3-4; Philippians 2:3-4).

7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 1 Corinthians 7:1-4

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 4. Ministry, as a model, applies to sex (1 Cor. 7:3-4; Philippians 2:3-4). 5. Normal frequency of sex…is whatever you find mutually satisfying and relationally helpful.

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 4. Ministry, as a model, applies to sex (1 Cor. 7:3-4; Philippians 2:3-4). 5. Normal frequency of sex…is whatever you find mutually satisfying and relationally helpful. 6. Sex pictures God’s desire for us– and pursuit of us.

31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:31-32

“Reading through the Minor Prophets sounds a lot like listening through the wall to quarreling lovers in the apartment next door.” Philip Yancey

“In the religions of the Fertile Crescent, access to God (transcendence) was attempted through sexual intercourse with temple prostitutes…‘Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God,’ said G. K. Chesterton.” John Eldredge Sacred Romance

“If humanity serves as your religion, then sex becomes an act of worship. On the other hand, if God is the object of your religion, then romantic love becomes an unmistakable pointer, a rumor of transcendence as loud as any we hear on earth.” Philip Yancey Rumors of Another World

“Sex between a man and a woman points to the love between the Father and the Son. It is a reflection of the joyous self-giving and pleasure of love within the very life of the triune God. Sex is glorious not only because it reflects the joy of the Trinity but also because it points to the eternal delight of soul that we will have in heaven, in our loving relationships with God and one another.” Tim Keller The Meaning of Marriage

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 7. Communicating preferences increases pleasure.

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 7. Communicating preferences increases pleasure. 8. Exhaustion, busyness and stress definitely hinders our sex life.

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 7. Communicating preferences increases pleasure. 8. Exhaustion, busyness and stress definitely hinders our sex life. 9. Flirting keeps the fun in sex, which keeps the sex in marriage.

Ten Practical Principles on Sex 7. Communicating preferences increases pleasure. 8. Exhaustion, busyness and stress definitely hinders our sex life. 9. Flirting keeps the fun in sex, which keeps the sex in marriage. 10. Children gain a vision for a healthy sex life from their parent’s communication and affection for each other.

What To Do Get rid of cultural biases and get a biblical perspective. Confess and deal with any immorality in your life. Work on meeting your spouse’s desire for emotional and physical intimacy. Pursue help when needed. See a doctor for physiological problems. Have a great time!