1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,560 Season two of Love in Context podcast welcomes you. Get ready for engaging unscripted conversations 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:14,240 with your hosts, Ben and Spencer. Our mission remains unchanged to explore the Bible through 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,880 the powerful lens of love. In this new season, we'll embark on a journey together, unearthing 4 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:24,000 fresh insights and gaining deeper understanding of how we can love God and live out our faith 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,360 in practical ways. So let's dive into this season of Love in Context, where love in the 6 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:36,000 context of the Bible intersect to transform our lives. Welcome back to the Love in Context 7 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:41,880 podcast. It's going to look strange. At least, OK, it looks strange to me today. I'm forewarning 8 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,920 you like this is this is my brain. So if you're watching the video and you're like, oh, it 9 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:50,400 looks good. And Ben's like, oh, it looks strange because that's how my brain is. Yeah. We're 10 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:55,900 testing out a new camera today. Yeah. Exciting times, right? Yeah. Well, we're actually working 11 00:00:55,900 --> 00:01:01,080 on working on like a multi cam like perspective. So A.I. is really cool. Like so it'll actually 12 00:01:01,080 --> 00:01:05,480 be able to go flip between you and I talking. And you realize you just lost half our audience 13 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:11,440 by saying A.I. is really cool. Yeah, right. They're like, what about Skynet? Right. I 14 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:16,200 thought you love Jesus. Yeah. Spencer's mom is listening. I didn't say anything about 15 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:24,920 A.I. So just no, it is. We're just we're experimenting. We're always trying to grow here technologically 16 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:32,680 at the Love and Context podcast at a budget. So yeah, we are also in our thirties and out 17 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:38,160 of date to what is. Yeah, it's never good. OK, so I'm going to tell the story and we're 18 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,440 going to get into this is going to be our closing up episode in our mini series of covenantal 19 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:47,000 like relationships. But I'm going to tell a story real quick. So this morning at my 20 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:52,120 rotary, they were doing a we had a speaker, but they were they were speaking to us via 21 00:01:52,120 --> 00:01:55,240 Zoom. Now we have a computer there. We like set up the projection and everything. And 22 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:59,080 it was really cool because they were talking about their trip to Guatemala doing like a 23 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:04,760 like a rotary project. They're like, yeah, we need to get the we need to get Ben over 24 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:09,200 here because he's the technological master. And I'm like, I'm not going to lie to you 25 00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:15,840 guys. If you if if you're looking at me as the tech guy, we got problems. We got a lot 26 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:21,160 of problems. We were we were getting ready for we have we have an all city worship coming 27 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:26,520 up for our community. And one of our one of our pastors in town, he was talking to me 28 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:29,720 about he's like, yeah, on the soundboard, you can make these adjustments to the in-ear 29 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:34,760 monitors. And I said, hey, hey, hey, not a sound guy. He's like, yeah, but here, I can 30 00:02:34,760 --> 00:02:37,780 just explain it to you really easy. And I was like, no, no, no. You've already used 31 00:02:37,780 --> 00:02:45,600 like 50 words. I don't know. Right. So put it in context. This guy like owns a tech company, 32 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:50,480 right. He owns a company where they literally either build websites or they fix computers 33 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:55,240 or fix like IT issues like that's like his world. And and whenever he talks to us about 34 00:02:55,240 --> 00:03:00,280 it, we're like, that's amazing, man. I'm so happy for you. Whereas I like to say not a 35 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,880 sponsor, but I love diet, Dr. Pepper. Whereas I like to say, I love that journey for you 36 00:03:03,880 --> 00:03:10,160 of that journey for you. So I was talking with Spencer and we were we were you know, 37 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:14,640 we were coming to this close of the covenants because I think talking to the covenants has 38 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:18,480 been really like good just to kind of see how these covenants work throughout the Bible. 39 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,800 And I imagine that as you've been listening, as you read your Bible, you probably come 40 00:03:21,800 --> 00:03:24,640 in across stuff where you're like, oh, that's really interesting. I think because in light 41 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:30,520 of covenantal talk, right. But there's one more like facet to covenants. It's really 42 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:36,320 important why God uses covenants because covenants were also very frequent and frequently used 43 00:03:36,320 --> 00:03:42,400 in the in the Old Testament. Yes. Just in the different cultures like covenants were 44 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:46,400 a regular thing. And so we want to go through and we want to highlight just a few of those 45 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:51,520 like covenantal relationships and significance. But what does it mean to actually be in covenant 46 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:57,680 together as a people, like as people covenanted to relationship? Right. Yeah. And we're just 47 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,400 going to kind of go through a few of the Bible ones and then we're going to talk about the 48 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,360 New Testament and then a couple of ways that we covenant with each other's God's people. 49 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:10,020 And then we're going to wrap this series. Sounds good. All right. So one of the first 50 00:04:10,020 --> 00:04:16,040 ones that comes up is Abraham and Abimelek. Right. And Genesis twenty one Abraham, he 51 00:04:16,040 --> 00:04:19,880 makes a covenant with Abimelek regarding the well of water, establishing a peace between 52 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,840 them. Right. So they cut a covenant. It's a lot of like a peace treaty that they're 53 00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:29,320 going to you're going to walk a certain portion of the covenant and it's going to be this 54 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:33,340 agreement between them. This is a very practical one between two. I'm going to call them political 55 00:04:33,340 --> 00:04:40,600 entities. Yep. Right. Because Abimelek is a king. Abraham is a growing community. Right. 56 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:45,560 Yeah. And let's let's just expand on the political entities a little bit, provide a little bit 57 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:50,960 more context. You're you're going down that route, which is good. But like we're not talking 58 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:55,160 massive kingdoms with millions and millions of people. We're talking tribes. Correct. 59 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:59,760 Right. Yeah. We're talking more tribal language. Like here's Abimelek and his family, his 60 00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,860 tribe. Here's Abraham, his family, his tribe. And those tribes would go to war with each 61 00:05:03,860 --> 00:05:10,260 other for whatever reason. Yeah. Sometimes when we say nations, people immediately are 62 00:05:10,260 --> 00:05:17,160 like 20 million people. No, no, no. Like 500 people maybe. There's actually when a lot 63 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:21,560 is captured, Abraham goes and he actually brings them back. He like he takes some of 64 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:26,000 his fighting men and he goes and he fights against the the people that take him and he 65 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,040 brings them back. And it's 300 people that he takes. Right. So these are his fighting 66 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:34,080 men. So he can't have like thousands and thousands. He does have a lot. They're not related to 67 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:40,440 him like they're their servants in his household or or his his his farmers, his sheep herders, 68 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:45,000 his, you know, people that work for him. But in being in being political in your relationships 69 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:50,820 for Abraham's was very important because he's an outsider who's in this land and he's growing 70 00:05:50,820 --> 00:05:57,040 in wealth and prosperity and people quickly. Yeah. And so like this this covenant is is 71 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:02,080 it's a big deal that is even mentioned. It has not shockingly in the desert. It has to 72 00:06:02,080 --> 00:06:07,680 do with water. Right. That they're they're actually having a covenant cut over water. 73 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:12,240 And once again, I do want to mention that most covenants are cut like you if you think 74 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,040 about like when people talk about being blood brothers where they cut and they mix their 75 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:18,720 blood. Similar idea. By the way, don't do that because there's a lot of diseases that 76 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:24,400 come with that. But most covenants are sealed with blood in some in some capacity. In the 77 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:31,880 same way, Jacob and Laban a few chapters later, about 10 chapters labor labor labor in Genesis, 78 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:38,760 Jacob and labor labor. That's not working. I'm leaving this all in, by the way. You cut 79 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:44,360 this part, but it just brought me to like a husband and like deliver delivery room wife 80 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,320 trying to push a baby out. And the husband's like, this is the book of labor. I'm going 81 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:53,080 to read through Genesis. Perfect. Let's read through the book of labor. You can cut all 82 00:06:53,080 --> 00:06:59,040 that out. So Jacob and Laban, they they actually have a covenant. They were there ensuring 83 00:06:59,040 --> 00:07:03,600 peace and protection for their families. And it's marked by a stone heap as a witness, 84 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:06,880 which by the way, they share a meal at that one. Now, if you're not familiar with that 85 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:13,160 story, go back to our Genesis episodes in Torah season one. And Jacob basically is once 86 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:17,240 he has all the stuff that he wants, he takes off and basically just leaves Laban. Then 87 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,040 he pursues him. He's like, seriously, you're going to take my kids and my grandkids and 88 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:25,160 just not even say goodbye. And they they, you know, establish some peace. There's two 89 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,280 up here coming up here. And I want to I want to zero in on these two. We'll we'll mention 90 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,800 some of the other ones. So I'm going to come back to these two. Nehemiah makes a covenant 91 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:35,500 with his people that he's going to commit that are going to commit to God's law and 92 00:07:35,500 --> 00:07:38,720 maintain their commitment to God. But also he makes a commitment that he's going to be 93 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:42,680 with them to rebuild the temple. David makes a covenant with the leaders of Israel when 94 00:07:42,680 --> 00:07:50,240 he chooses to be king over them. And the there's also the covenant of peace that Moses makes 95 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:55,080 with the Rubinites, the Gaddites and the half tribe of Manasseh in numbers 32. OK, so there's 96 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,320 a there's a number of different covenants mentioned in the Old Testament. I want to 97 00:07:58,320 --> 00:08:03,840 focus in on two, which I think have a lot of bearing in our lives today. And one of 98 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,120 them is going to be the one between Jonathan and David. That's going to be found in First 99 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:13,240 Samuel 18, one through four and First Samuel 2014 through 17. So we just finished talking 100 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,400 about the Davidic covenant and we're going to have a time in the podcast where we actually 101 00:08:16,400 --> 00:08:22,420 dive deep into the life of David at some point. But Jonathan and David, they established a 102 00:08:22,420 --> 00:08:25,960 covenant of friendship and loyalty and they pledged that they're going to take care of 103 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:33,520 each other's families no matter what happens. OK, now the significance of that is that Jonathan 104 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:41,040 is the son of King Saul, who, by the way, David is supposed to displace. And Saul oftentimes 105 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:47,120 throughout the story wants to kill David and tries to kill David and tries to kill David. 106 00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:53,640 And throughout that story, often Jonathan one way or another ends up saving David. Right. 107 00:08:53,640 --> 00:08:58,360 They pledge royalty to each other. Sorry, royalty, loyalty to each other. They they are 108 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:05,240 royalty and he pledged loyalty to each other. I'm talking good today. So Jonathan actually 109 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:09,720 gives David his robe, his armor and his sword, and he symbolizes his commitment and recognition 110 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:16,120 of David's future as the king. The thing about it is, is that in the story, though, in this 111 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:21,180 covenant like Jonathan saves David, David takes care of Jonathan. But eventually, Saul and 112 00:09:21,180 --> 00:09:26,120 Jonathan die. Right. It's one of the reasons that David ends up being king was that Saul 113 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:34,560 dies. But Saul and Jonathan die. And but the friendship doesn't stop for David. In fact, 114 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:39,520 there is a down the line. Now, I want to talk a little bit historically. If a new king comes 115 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:46,800 in, the new king typically will go and completely eliminate the line of anybody associated with 116 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:51,380 the previous king at all, because you don't want to have this faction going with the previous 117 00:09:51,380 --> 00:09:56,040 king and then you're ruling over those kings. David was different. We actually talked about 118 00:09:56,040 --> 00:10:02,360 how he's a man after God's own heart. Right. He's a different kind of king. And so Jonathan 119 00:10:02,360 --> 00:10:08,200 actually does have a son by the name of Mephibosheth, which is just by the way, expecting mothers 120 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:15,360 out there just just saying little Mephi will be a great kid, you know. And Mephibosheth 121 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:21,460 is actually he is lame because when he was being taken away as Saul, when Saul died and 122 00:10:21,460 --> 00:10:25,960 King David is being the third king, they crippled him as they were leaving. And so he actually 123 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:30,840 is crippled all of his life. And David, when he's there as king, he actually has this point 124 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:37,560 where he says, is there not somebody from the line of Jonathan on whom I can have compassion? 125 00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:44,040 Okay. So what is a covenant? It's something where it's like it's like an obligation or 126 00:10:44,040 --> 00:10:51,560 or a an expectancy that you're going to pour out and into somebody else. And in this case, 127 00:10:51,560 --> 00:10:56,560 like David's pouring into Jonathan's line long after Jonathan's death. Right. And he 128 00:10:56,560 --> 00:11:04,120 says, is there somebody in the line of Jonathan that I can find to pour out grace? First of 129 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:08,960 all, when I hear that we need more relationships like that. Yes. Right. Like those are those 130 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:13,840 are relationships. Those are those are the ones where you can say you can get in fights. 131 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:17,800 You can disagree with each other and you're still going to go to battle. You're still 132 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:21,880 going to go. You're still going to go stand in harm's way for the person behind you. You're 133 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:25,600 going to back them up. You're going to pick them up. You're going to sleep in the dirt 134 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,440 with them if you have to. Right. Yeah. Like these are the kind of relationships that those 135 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:35,440 are. Absolutely. And Mephibosheth is just raised with this understanding that David, 136 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:40,120 as soon as he would find him, would want to kill him. But David does find Mephibosheth 137 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:44,440 and he actually takes him into his household and he takes him as his own son. Right. And 138 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:49,880 starts to care for him. And he becomes basically a prince to the king. And it's a it's a really 139 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:56,480 touching story in the Book of the Book of the Old Testament in in in the Old Testament. 140 00:11:56,480 --> 00:12:02,280 And I just I think that it really illustrates this this covenantal need for grace and and 141 00:12:02,280 --> 00:12:08,560 and I'm going to call it stick to it of this. Yeah. In people. Right. Yeah. Absolutely. 142 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:14,240 Right. Another covenant tool. Wow. Covenant tool relationship. Is that how we're saying 143 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:19,280 that? That is perfect. Perfect. We are we are nailing all the words today. We are. I 144 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:24,240 did not get much sleep last night for whatever reason. And yeah, it was also sick earlier 145 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:31,240 this week. So I'm still kind of getting over that. But is Ruth and Naomi. So Book of Ruth. 146 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:38,320 This is actually a really, really fascinating covenant here. Yeah. So you have Ruth, who's 147 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:48,500 a Moabite. Right. And she marries Naomi's son. And through long story short, it gets 148 00:12:48,500 --> 00:12:53,720 to where it's just Ruth and Naomi. So culturally, historically, what typically would have happened 149 00:12:53,720 --> 00:13:00,960 is Ruth would have left Israel and gone back to Moab and to be with her family and potentially 150 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:05,200 get remarried in a different line. So on, so forth. Right. It would have been expected. 151 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:10,680 It would have been expected. So Ruth breaks the mold and she says, no, I'm going to stay 152 00:13:10,680 --> 00:13:15,640 with Naomi. I'm going to take care of her. I'm going to be with her where she is. I'm 153 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:21,000 going to go with her where she goes. And I am going to be like be the one to help provide 154 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:24,880 for you. Because at this point, Naomi's older. There's not much she can do. She doesn't have 155 00:13:24,880 --> 00:13:28,320 a husband. She doesn't have any sons to care for. She doesn't really have any family to 156 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:34,720 lean on. And so, sorry, Naomi doesn't have any family to lean on. Ruth is saying, I'm 157 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:40,800 going to step into that role. Right. And now for Ruth to do that, to do that in Israel 158 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:46,480 would have been very, very difficult. She's an outsider. She really has no way to provide 159 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:52,320 means. So what does she do? She goes out into the fields. Right. Right. Well, so that it's 160 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:57,040 really interesting because like to your point, she's a Moabitess. Right. And so if you remember 161 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:01,360 Torah, the Moabites are not supposed to be welcoming to the assembly of the Lord. Right. 162 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:04,720 And yet here is this Moabite showing up in the book of Ruth right in the middle of the 163 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:09,880 book of judges where they're struggling to follow God. Right. And there's this Moabite 164 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:14,400 that is one of my favorite things she says to Naomi. She says, where you go, I'll go. 165 00:14:14,400 --> 00:14:19,240 Where you stay, I'll stay. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God. Right. 166 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:24,080 She's a very righteous woman. Right. So, but then to your point where she goes, she goes 167 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:29,000 to work the field. Why? Because she knows Torah. Why does she know Torah? Because she 168 00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:33,680 knows that the Jews don't cut the ends of their field. At least the good people don't. 169 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:38,040 Right. So she's like, I'm going to find that field where I can go glean off the ends of 170 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:45,600 the field so I could provide. Right. It's a story of loyalty. Right. The story of someone 171 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:50,680 who's loyal, even though they have no right to be loyal. And I want to use the word right 172 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:57,300 there because by all means, she had the right to leave, go back to Moab and get married 173 00:14:57,300 --> 00:15:01,200 into a different line. She probably would have been financially better off at first. 174 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:04,880 There's more to this story. Spoiler alert, guys. Yeah. We're not going to go fully into 175 00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:09,720 the book of Ruth, but there's a lot going on in that story. But if you were in her shoes, 176 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:14,480 it would have made more sense. Let me go back to my family where my support is. Right. And 177 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:17,120 she's like, no, I'm going to actually stay with Naomi. I'm going to be where she is. 178 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:21,240 I'm going to stay where she is. Her God's going to be my God. And I know Torah because 179 00:15:21,240 --> 00:15:26,440 I've been married into this relationship with Israel at this point. And so she's like, I'm 180 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:32,920 going to go to the fields and glean and provide what I can. Yeah. And we don't want to retell 181 00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:39,400 the entire story, but she ends up being paired with this guy by the name of Boaz. And one 182 00:15:39,400 --> 00:15:42,600 of the things that they say about both Ruth and Boaz in the story is that they're both 183 00:15:42,600 --> 00:15:47,000 like incredibly generous, righteous people. Right. Yeah. We've heard of their of their 184 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:53,240 righteousness. Right. Like they are they are famed. They're known for their generosity. 185 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:58,880 Yes. Right. And so eventually Boaz takes takes Ruth into his family and obviously Naomi as 186 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:05,680 well because you're going to adopt the entire family in Boaz and Ruth bear a son by the 187 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:11,880 name of Obed, who becomes the grandfather of King David. Right. Now, the interesting 188 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,800 thing and this is this I'm actually going to credit my wife and Rabbi David Foreman 189 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:24,640 because she did the she was preaching on Ruth a few months ago and that in Jewish tradition 190 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:30,560 you have Solomon, who is attributed to the Proverbs. Yes. And there is a very famous 191 00:16:30,560 --> 00:16:37,000 chapter that they call the woman of valor. Right. This woman of this woman of high character 192 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:45,280 in Proverbs 31 and many Jewish sages will actually attribute Solomon not describing 193 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:51,160 a hypothetical woman, but one that he's actually familiar with from being raised in his household, 194 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:57,120 which was his great great grandmother, Ruth, that she is. Then as you go through this this 195 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:03,320 description as he's talking about the woman of valor, this woman of noble character. Right. 196 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,320 He starts describing. And if you go through the story of Ruth, you actually start piecing 197 00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:12,280 these pieces that he's describing into the character of who Ruth is along the way. And 198 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,040 like but the like so much that like how many times have you heard people preach in Proverbs 199 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:20,880 31 and talk about like, you know, how awesome this person is. And it's talking about a person 200 00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:26,120 who is covenantally bound to their mother in law when they didn't have to be like it's 201 00:17:26,120 --> 00:17:34,760 a covenant they choose. Right. Yep. It's cool. Yeah. Really cool. It's a really cool story. 202 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:39,920 Just two brief points here because they're really connected and they're they're they're 203 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:45,760 exercised in different ways. So the probably though one of the covenants that we're most 204 00:17:45,760 --> 00:17:51,160 familiar with inside of the church is this covenant of marriage. Why? Because a lot of 205 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:57,160 people get married. Right. In Ephesians 5 22, Paul describes the relationship between 206 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:01,240 husbands and wives as reflective of Christ in the church, portraying marriage as a covenant 207 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:10,080 characterized by love, sacrifice and mutual submission. And I love it. Like when men specifically 208 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:16,040 use this passage to degrade women, when I'm like, OK, no, it says, why submit to your 209 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:21,120 husbands and husbands go die for your wives? This is a story of mutual submission and caring 210 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:25,680 and love. I jokingly quote the first part to my wife out of context all the time. Yeah. 211 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:31,520 How's that go for you? She she she usually threatens me in some way. She's like, well, 212 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:36,040 you've already lived the second part out. Like, you know, as a joke. Yeah. So it is 213 00:18:36,040 --> 00:18:41,640 it is a really difficult passage. If you're if you are a husband, you have to love your 214 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:47,400 wife as Christ loved the church. Well, I have a friend like when when my wife and I were 215 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,760 doing premarital counseling, he we were we were reading through his passage and he's 216 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:57,960 like he was like, yeah, he's like when I read the passage, I'm like, my job's way harder. 217 00:18:57,960 --> 00:19:03,600 His wife just started laughing. He's like he's like, yeah, he's like as a husband, 218 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:08,960 he's like, my job's way harder. Yeah, it's like, yeah. Well, and I also love that just 219 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:13,000 prior to that, Paul has said, submit to each other. Like you said, everybody you need to 220 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:18,160 submit to each other. And then he talks about it in a relationship. Like, yeah, I think 221 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:22,240 I think the reason that they they he really stresses these things are these are going 222 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,080 to be the hardest things for you to do as a couple is submit to somebody else when you 223 00:19:26,080 --> 00:19:31,320 don't want to. Yeah. And to love somebody recklessly. Yeah. To to put it in a different 224 00:19:31,320 --> 00:19:37,560 lens like if you want a happy marriage, focus on serving your spouse. Yeah. Right. Wives 225 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:42,000 wives focus on serving your husbands, husbands focus on serving your wives. Like you're both 226 00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:46,160 going to have different needs, different wants, different desires. Focus on serving each other 227 00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:50,400 because the more you can give to each other, the better off you're going to be. And the 228 00:19:50,400 --> 00:19:55,360 interesting thing is that Paul is using this analogy to talk about Christ in the church. 229 00:19:55,360 --> 00:20:01,680 Right. And it always makes me really worried when somebody really abuses these passages. 230 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:09,040 I was like, what do you think God thinks about you? Right. I mean, like if you're if you're 231 00:20:09,040 --> 00:20:13,320 if you're a misogynist, right, like what do you really think God thinks about you if he 232 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,280 is Christ is going to tell the church, you know, these different things that are just 233 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:22,280 wildly inappropriate. Right. And and treat them treat them that way. I was like, no, 234 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:26,320 Christ loved the church and he does everything he can to make her everything she should be. 235 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:30,920 Well, and even in Christ's life, if we're using we're using marriage as an analogy for 236 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:36,720 Christ in the church. Yeah. Like how did Christ treat his disciples? Yeah. Like he Jesus knew 237 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,400 his place, but he also washed their feet. Mm hmm. Like like Jesus would be like, hey, 238 00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:46,480 go do this. But then he'd be like, let me make you some food. Right. There was there. 239 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:52,040 It wasn't just this. I'm going to lord this over you and you're going to do my will. It 240 00:20:52,040 --> 00:20:55,840 was like, hey, I'm actually going to sit down with you, enjoy a meal. Yeah. I'm going to 241 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:59,760 walk with you. I'm going to wash your feet. I'm going to make sure we're fed. I'm going 242 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:05,080 to do all these things. Right. It was there's this element of Christ sacrificing for his 243 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:11,800 disciples on every turn. Yeah. I also think you can also take this passage and you can 244 00:21:11,800 --> 00:21:19,080 say it a different way as like if you want you if you want your spouse to submit, then 245 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:24,400 you need to be a person we're submitting to. And by the way, you also need to be a person 246 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:30,360 that you're worth dying for. Yeah. Right. And those those two things go hand in hand. 247 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:34,600 And one of them, contrary to your opinion, one of them is not harder than the other in 248 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,400 a couple. They're both difficult. And there's also like a responsibility to both of those 249 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,960 pieces because there are times when I need to submit to my wife as well. And to clarify, 250 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:48,080 my friend was saying as a joke. No, no, no. Your friend was absolutely serious. Somebody's 251 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:52,720 going to be like, I know who gave Spencer and Lindsey marital counseling and I'm going 252 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:59,000 to just type away an email right today. And if they emailed him, he'd probably be like, 253 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:07,320 OK, OK. We're just moving on after that. Right. So I mean, and this is I we've talked about 254 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:11,880 this. We're talking about this in women in ministry and the purposes of like men and 255 00:22:11,880 --> 00:22:17,720 women coming together. Together, we represent the image of God. I think sometimes people 256 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:22,520 in the church struggle to understand that everything you do as a believer puts the kingdom 257 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:29,960 on display. Yeah. Like your relationship with your spouse tells tells the world like who 258 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:35,520 God is. Your relationship with your children tells the world who God is. And people, they're 259 00:22:35,520 --> 00:22:40,560 like, oh, we need to evangelize. Yes, you do. Absolutely. But your life should also be evangelism. 260 00:22:40,560 --> 00:22:44,320 Right. The way that you love people, the way that you love your spouse, the way that you 261 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:49,720 love your kids, right. The way that you you just orient your life in general, like how 262 00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:56,040 hard like how you organize your day, like the the effort that you put into your responsibilities. 263 00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:01,160 All of these things put a story on display. And and there's a reason why these these things 264 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:06,760 are covenantal because they're not they're not especially marriage is not a it's not 265 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:15,000 a passive activity. Right. Yeah. Like it's it's an active like participant. Yeah. Right. 266 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,280 We're invited into this relationship, which needs a lot of maintenance and needs a lot 267 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:23,980 of care in order to grow. I think the other part of this is that there's also the covenant 268 00:23:23,980 --> 00:23:28,760 to believers, which is really where I want to land on us for today. Right. Because some 269 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:32,260 of you may be married, but some of you won't be. But all of you are in relationship with 270 00:23:32,260 --> 00:23:40,240 other believers in some capacity. Can you read? Can you pull up Hebrews 10, 24 and 25? 271 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:46,760 Yep. Got it right here. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and 272 00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:52,840 good works and not let us think not let us neglect our meeting together as some people 273 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:59,280 do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. 274 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:04,720 And the writer Hebrews here is like, listen, you're meant to be together. Yes. Let's not 275 00:24:04,720 --> 00:24:08,640 neglect this. Let's find each ways to another translation to spur each other on to love 276 00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:14,760 and good deeds. Right. Ephesians 429. Let no one holds him talking out of your mouth, but 277 00:24:14,760 --> 00:24:22,280 only that which is helpful for building others up according to their needs. Yes. Right. Others 278 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:28,040 up according to their needs, not others up according to my needs. Right. When we're in 279 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:32,440 covenantal relationship, it's not about how do we invest in ourselves, but how do we invest 280 00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:37,360 in the people around us? Yes. Right. Which by the way, that's most how good relationships 281 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:44,920 work. Yeah. Relationships are sacrificial. That's the that is the reality. We all have 282 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:49,120 needs and it's okay to voice those needs. Like a lot of times when we hear the word 283 00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:53,360 we need to sacrifice, we kind of take the idea of like, oh, I need to take my needs 284 00:24:53,360 --> 00:24:57,080 and I need to shove them down and not voice them. That's actually not what's going on 285 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:02,560 here. Like if you want your needs met or want someone else to help meet your needs, you 286 00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:08,200 have to voice those needs. Right. But there's a difference. But you but if you're just voicing 287 00:25:08,200 --> 00:25:13,280 those needs and you're not working on serving the needs of those around you, then you've 288 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:18,640 kind of missed the point here. Right. Right. Like you got because yeah, if you want your 289 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,800 needs met, you got to voice it and that's okay to do that. I think you get people in 290 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:28,560 relationships one that always want to serve and have a really hard time being served. 291 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,440 And some people who always want to be served and have a hard time serving and neither one 292 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:38,520 of those are healthy. Right. Like it's I mean, it's good to want to serve, but you also have 293 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:43,660 to know how to let other people feed into your life. So one of the biggest contentions 294 00:25:43,660 --> 00:25:48,840 in Lindsay and my marriage is the fact that we're both not good at expressing what we 295 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:53,320 need. And so then what we do is we're both like trying to serve each other, but we're 296 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:58,360 not expressing what we need. And so then occasionally it boils up and they're like, you're just 297 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:01,840 not helping right now. And it's like, what do you mean I'm not helping? I'm doing everything 298 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:06,520 I can to help you. And we've both we've been on this conversation has happened both ways. 299 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,600 We're like, Lindsay's got frustrated because her needs aren't being met. I've got frustrated 300 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:13,920 because mine aren't being met. And the reality is, it's just that like, we're so focused 301 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,440 on trying to serve each other that we're like, okay, we should actually step back and voice 302 00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:21,120 our needs. Yeah, I want to like I'm going to give an analogy of just kicking in my head 303 00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:25,240 as we're kind of going is like if I'm you say, Hey, Ben, how's it going? And I'm like, 304 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,520 you know, I've been struggling. You're like, oh, well, I want to encourage you this week. 305 00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:34,360 And so you show up the next day and you bring me a plate of muffins. I said, thanks, Spencer. 306 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:36,640 And then you see me later and you're like, how are you doing this week? I'm like, I'm 307 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,000 still struggling. You're like, I'm going to encourage you more. And then you bring me 308 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,640 a plate of cookies and get to the end of the week. And you're like, why are you skilled 309 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:47,720 discouraged? I was like, well, I was just really discouraged with my weight loss. And keep bringing 310 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:52,240 me sweets. Right. It's not it's not because I haven't actually conveyed to you like what 311 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:56,760 I'm struggling with. Yeah, right. Right. Because how do you have to add I had I as an individual, 312 00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,640 like it's great that you were reaching out 100 percent. Right. I was like, but you're 313 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:04,000 reaching out with the very thing that is making me struggle more. Yeah. Right. But if I had 314 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,400 trusted in relationship and been like, man, I am trying to lose weight and I'm struggling. 315 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:10,680 You're like, oh, man, how can I help? You want me to you want me to go walking with 316 00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:14,680 you? You want me to call you in the morning and motivate or whatever? Like those things 317 00:27:14,680 --> 00:27:18,400 would have actually encouraged me showing up with a plate full of muffins. Probably 318 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:24,240 not helpful. Kale chips. Kale chips. Yeah, please. Please do. My my youngest loves we 319 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,680 have actually kale chips and he loves those things. Yeah. Yeah. Good for him. Yeah. I 320 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:36,760 love that journey for him. Exactly. But, you know, one of the things is, is that covenantal 321 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:41,280 relationships and just relationships that where you covenant to be together, that's 322 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,840 with like your church, your good friends, like these these types of things. Those are 323 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:49,640 bonds that should not be broken lightly. Like they're they're meant to be difficult to break. 324 00:27:49,640 --> 00:27:57,600 It's not impossible. It happens. Marriages do fail. Friendships fall apart. Church church 325 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:03,920 trust is broken. But these are meant to be relationships that are meant to be battle 326 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:09,000 tested and taken in. And they're not supposed to be fragile because you're supposed to take 327 00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:13,880 them into the hardest places in your life in order to be able to go through them. Yeah. 328 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:18,960 Just like we take the the covenants of Jesus through to us, the messianic covenant, and 329 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:22,120 we take it through all the hardest parts of our life. Yep. Right. It brings us peace in 330 00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:27,920 the midst of chaos and joy in the midst of sadness. Right. And or chaos is what I would 331 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:36,440 say rather than sadness and just learning how to exist in covenantal relationship. And 332 00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:40,800 if you remember when we talked about covenant, God says, I'm going to do this regardless 333 00:28:40,800 --> 00:28:47,200 of what you can do for me. Like your covenant is not about yes, you need to make your needs 334 00:28:47,200 --> 00:28:52,200 known, but it's not about serving yourself. It's about serving the other person and in 335 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:59,160 mutual submission and love. Yep. Right. Yep. So those are our thoughts. You know, think 336 00:28:59,160 --> 00:29:03,800 about that. See what you guys think. We'd love to hear your thoughts on those. I of 337 00:29:03,800 --> 00:29:08,200 course, you're going to disagree with Spencer. It's OK. I disagree with him all the time. 338 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:16,780 I'm right. So we you can reach us at love and context at gmail dot com. We would love 339 00:29:16,780 --> 00:29:19,920 to have further conversations. If you do disagree with us, you have a different perspective 340 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:23,280 or you have a life perspective or story you want to share that you'd like us to take a 341 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:30,640 look at. We love that. And just touch base with us. But that's the covenant series. We 342 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:36,280 will be starting a new series next week for us. It'll be in five minutes. But next week 343 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:45,960 for you on Kings and Kingdoms. Yes. Talking about non-Jewish kings, non-Jewish kings and 344 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:50,560 their impact on the narrative, their impact on culture and what are some things that we 345 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:55,040 can take away from them. In fact, I think the first week we're going to be talking about 346 00:29:55,040 --> 00:30:01,600 Melchizedek. And so I can't remember. I think it was it was Pastor Nick once when I asked 347 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:05,840 him that he's like Melchizedek or something like he said it really strange. It might have 348 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:10,240 been him. The pastors at this church man, they've said something that's really weird. 349 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:18,400 But it's been it's awesome. Abanego. Abanego. Yeah. So all right. Well, until next time, 350 00:30:18,400 --> 00:30:22,480 we'll catch you guys next time. 351 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:26,720 And that's a wrap for today's episode of Love and Context. We hope you enjoyed this engaging 352 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:30,400 conversation and gained valuable insights into the powerful message of love within the 353 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:35,400 Bible. We'd love to hear from you and continue the conversation. Connect with us by sending 354 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:41,360 us your questions, thoughts and suggestions to loveandcontext at gmail dot com. We greatly 355 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:46,800 appreciate your feedback and ideas for future episodes. Stay connected with us on social 356 00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:51,200 media for updates, behind the scenes content and additional resources. You can find us 357 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:56,200 on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook at Love and Context. Don't forget to hit that 358 00:30:56,200 --> 00:31:00,700 follow button to stay up to date with the latest episodes and join our growing community. 359 00:31:00,700 --> 00:31:04,600 Thank you for being part of the Love and Context family. Remember, love is at the heart of 360 00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:10,360 it all. Until next time, keep seeking wisdom, embracing love and living out your faith in 361 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:38,360 the context of today's world.