Sep. 20, 2026

What does it actually look like for a marriage to reflect Christ's love? 

Picking up right where last week left off, Pastor Dave continued the marriage series with two key passages, Matthew 19:1–10, where Jesus quotes Genesis 2, and Ephesians 5:22–33, where Paul does the same, before tackling one of the most tender subjects in Scripture: divorce.

A Tender and Thorny Topic - Pastor Dave opened with an honest acknowledgment that marriage is a thorny subject, "and down where I grew up, we had briar patches. You don't pick blackberries unless you're going to get pricked by the thorns." No marriage is perfect, he said, because no people are perfect, but there is forgiveness, healing, and hope for marriages that feel broken right now.

Husbands: Love Like Christ - Reading Ephesians 5:25–29, Pastor Dave laid out the weight of what husbands are called to. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her." Headship, he clarified, was never meant to mean "boss." It means loving, sacrificial servant leadership. "If you're like me, and you're a husband, I go, 'Ew,' because most days, if I'm honest, I don't meet that ideal," he admitted. To nourish and cherish a wife means to supply, protect, and place the highest value on her, spiritually, emotionally, and physically, seeking her highest good above your own.

Wives: Respond in Harmony - Turning to verses 22–24 and 33, Pastor Dave described submission not as inferiority but as living in harmony within the roles God assigned, "like a beautiful symphony." He was clear this isn't a hierarchy: "It's not that wives are inferior to husbands and husbands are inferior to wives." Both spouses bring everything to the marriage, prioritize each other, and support one another.

A Great Mystery - The heart of the message centered on Ephesians 5:32: "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Every marriage, Pastor Dave said, is meant to be a living picture of Christ's love for His people. "How I treat my spouse, she ain't got her gun out, so thank the Lord for that. It's to demonstrate to others who see how I treat my spouse, they should see some reflection of Christ in me."

What About Divorce? - Pastor Dave then turned to Matthew 19, noting the loaded context: Jesus was likely near the same region where John the Baptist had been beheaded for confronting Herod's illegitimate marriage, and the Pharisees who questioned Jesus were split between two camps over how easily a man could divorce his wife. Jesus's answer traced divorce back to "hardness of heart," not God's original design. Pastor Dave shared a sobering memory of his wife Pam gently telling a woman what God says about her marriage, only to hear the reply, "I don't care what God says. I'm going to divorce Him."

Pastor Dave identified two biblical grounds for divorce, not commanded, but permitted: sexual immorality, from Matthew 19:9, and abandonment by an unbelieving spouse, from 1 Corinthians 7:15, "a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace." Reconciliation, he stressed, is almost always the better path, but Scripture does provide for these two situations.

Pastor Dave closed in prayer, asking for tender hearts, healed marriages, and grace for anyone in the room carrying a wound from this very topic.