Latest / Marriage Life and More and Bible Study / The Gospel in Marriage Pt 2 (Marriage as a Mission) - 317

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The Gospel in Marriage Pt 2 (Marriage as a Mission) - 317 · Marriage Life and More and Bible Study

• 0:08
  Daniel Moore: Let's be honest, marriage has a funny way of putting your Christ-like character on full display.
• 0:14
  Daniel Moore: Usually right after someone leaves dishes in the sink again or says something they swear quote unquote didn't come out wrong in their head.
• 0:21
  Daniel Moore: It's in those everyday imperfect moments that we realize marriage isn't just about love songs and date nights.
• 0:28
  Daniel Moore: It's more like a front row seat to your own sanctification.
• 0:31
  Daniel Moore: And if we're really honest, sometimes that sanctification feels less like a gentle transformation and more like God saying, Alright, let's work on that attitude, starting now.
• 0:42
  Daniel Moore: But here's the beautiful twist.
• 0:44
  Daniel Moore: What feels like frustration, tension, or even failure in marriage is actually the perfect stage for something much bigger.
• 0:50
  Daniel Moore: Redemption.
• 0:51
  Daniel Moore: Not the kind of redemption you read about once and move on from, but the kind that shows up again and again when you choose forgiveness over holding a grudge, humility over being right, and grace over I told you so.
• 1:04
  Daniel Moore: Marriage becomes a living, breathing picture of the gospel, where broken people don't just coexist, but actually pursue restoration, just like Christ pursued us.
• 1:14
  Daniel Moore: So in this week's episode, we're jumping into what it really means for marriage to reflect redemption.
• 1:19
  Daniel Moore: Not just in the big dramatic moments, but in the small, everyday choices that either build walls or build something beautiful.
• 1:27
  Daniel Moore: We're talking about forgiveness that costs something, love that doesn't quit, and a covenant that refuses to give up even when things get messy.
• 1:35
  Daniel Moore: Because at the end of the day, your marriage isn't just about the two of you, it's a powerful living testimony that God is still in the business of redeeming what's broken.
• 1:45
  Daniel Moore: Welcome to Marriage Life and More.
• 1:52
  Daniel Moore: This is a podcast about marriage, Bible, and book studies, and we interview people that have inspiring stories.
• 1:57
  Daniel Moore: I'm Daniel Moore, your host.
• 1:58
  Daniel Moore: And over next to me is my beautiful co-host, my wife Michelle.
• 2:02
  Daniel Moore: Hey, hey.
• 2:02
  Daniel Moore: Thank you for joining us this week.
• 2:04
  Daniel Moore: If you're not familiar with our show, check out our website at marriagelifeandmore.com.
• 2:08
  Daniel Moore: Our platforms are there, YouTube and Rumble links.
• 2:10
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• 2:12
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• 2:15
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• 2:20
  Daniel Moore: If you're a fan of our show, please subscribe.
• 2:22
  Daniel Moore: Feel free to leave a comment on our platforms, give us a thumbs up or five-star review on Apple Podcasts, and we'd be thankful to you for doing that.
• 2:30
  Daniel Moore: Well, this week we are going to be coming back with a new episode, the continuation of our marriage is a mission series.
• 2:39
  Daniel Moore: And we've been talking about the gospel in marriage.
• 2:42
  Daniel Moore: A couple weeks ago, we were talking about Christ and the church as a model.
• 2:46
  Daniel Moore: And I do want to welcome back my beautiful wife over here.
• 2:50
  Daniel Moore: She's feeling better.
• 2:52
  Michelle Moore: Thank you.
• 2:52
  Michelle Moore: She's I feel much better.
• 2:54
  Daniel Moore: She's got half of a voice.
• 2:56
  Michelle Moore: Yes.
• 2:56
  Michelle Moore: Actually, almost all the way back.
• 2:58
  Michelle Moore: Thank the Lord.
• 3:00
  Daniel Moore: So we're going to do our best to get through uh an episode here and see if we can get this knocked out.
• 3:06
  Daniel Moore: And then maybe the next time you're here, she'll be even better.
• 3:09
  Daniel Moore: Who knows?
• 3:09
  Daniel Moore: That's all right.
• 3:10
  Michelle Moore: That's all right.
• 3:10
  Daniel Moore: See how this goes.
• 3:11
  Daniel Moore: But it's been an uphill battle, that's for sure.
• 3:14
  Daniel Moore: But I also want to remind you, uh, mentioned last week that coming up on May 9th, I'm going to be doing a book signing at Somewhere in Time Bookstore in Web City, Missouri.
• 3:25
  Daniel Moore: So if you are local to this area and you haven't bought one of the books yet that we have available, and you want to like to like to get one, I'm going to have books there and you get to meet me and uh talk to me or whatever while I'm there.
• 3:38
  Daniel Moore: So you can put that on your calendar.
• 3:40
  Daniel Moore: That's coming up in Webb City, Missouri on May 9th at the Somewhere in Time bookstore there in that town.
• 3:48
  Daniel Moore: So be looking forward to that and looking forward to maybe meeting some of you guys and maybe listen to the podcast.
• 3:54
  Daniel Moore: Well, this week we're going to go ahead and continue our series on marriage as a mission, talking about the gospel in marriage.
• 4:01
  Daniel Moore: And this week, it's marriage as a living parable of redemption.
• 4:06
  Daniel Moore: At its core, redemption is the story of love pursuing the unworthy, rescuing the broken, and restoring the undeserving.
• 4:30
  Daniel Moore: It is the heartbeat of the gospel itself.
• 4:33
  Daniel Moore: This is exactly what God has done for us through Jesus Christ.
• 4:37
  Daniel Moore: And it is exactly what marriage is designed to reflect.
• 4:41
  Daniel Moore: The relationship between husband and wife is not merely about companionship, romance, or shared life goals.
• 4:47
  Daniel Moore: It's meant to be a daily visible testimony of Christ's redeeming love for his bride, the church.
• 4:53
  Daniel Moore: Paul makes this unmistakably clear in Ephesians 5, 25 through 27, where he says, Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water of the Word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
• 5:16
  Daniel Moore: This is redemption in motion.
• 5:19
  Daniel Moore: Christ's love is not passive or sentimental, it is active, sacrificial, and purposeful.
• 5:25
  Daniel Moore: He gave himself up willingly, not because we were deserving, but because his love is steadfast and gracious.
• 5:32
  Daniel Moore: His redemption does more than pardon sin.
• 5:36
  Daniel Moore: It transforms hearts.
• 5:38
  Daniel Moore: He washes, sanctifies, and restores.
• 5:41
  Daniel Moore: In a gospel-shaped marriage, both husband and wife are called to reflect that same self-giving, restorative love toward one another.
• 5:50
  Daniel Moore: And as we get started this week, as we look at the scripture that we've read here, and we're looking at what it means for Christ to have that redeeming uh relationship with us.
• 6:04
  Daniel Moore: Now, if you look at the word redeemed as it's mentioned in the Bible with what Christ did on Calvary, and that's another word for bought back, basically.
• 6:15
  Daniel Moore: So whenever Christ died and he took on our sins and he gave us this capability of having salvation in our life and giving us an eternity with him in heaven, in essence, that's that life of sin that was put upon us because of what Adam and Eve did in the garden, when the Satan uh came up and you know, he got Eve to take the fruit and do the things that they weren't supposed to do, sin entered the world.
• 6:41
  Daniel Moore: And in order for us to have this relationship with Christ for eternity, Christ had to buy us back.
• 6:46
  Daniel Moore: And that's how he did that was by by dying on that cross.
• 6:51
  Daniel Moore: And and I know, you know, with us when we look at it this way, um, I think that when you look at our relationship as a husband and wife, if we look at it in that same aspect, I think that gives our marriages a much more deeper meaning than what we would look at in another way.
• 7:12
  Daniel Moore: Because if you are going through a situation, well, let's take your your last couple weeks here.
• 7:20
  Daniel Moore: Well, I guess it's been about a month, hasn't it?
• 7:23
  Michelle Moore: I've been fighting it for a month.
• 7:24
  Daniel Moore: She's been fighting this for about a month because if you if you remember, this started back before we even went to see our granddaughter.
• 7:31
  Michelle Moore: And you started getting that sickness then, and then it kind of got a little better, but then well, I went to the doctor and I got medication and antibiotics and a shot, a couple shots, and feedback sick.
• 7:46
  Daniel Moore: Exactly.
• 7:47
  Daniel Moore: And it it's been rough, but one thing that I tried to make it a priority during this time was you mean enough to me to for me, I you know, I did whatever you needed help with.
• 8:01
  Daniel Moore: You know, anything that you needed during that time, uh, I tried to be there to help with that and take as much load as I could off of you.
• 8:10
  Daniel Moore: And, you know, Christ does that for us.
• 8:13
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 8:13
  Daniel Moore: And whenever we get into these situations where we're just having a rough life at the moment, you know, we've got maybe some setbacks have hit us or we've had some bad things happen.
• 8:25
  Daniel Moore: Um, you know, things just aren't going quite the way that we would like for them to, and it's just causing a lot of turmoil in our marriage and our relationships.
• 8:33
  Daniel Moore: We always know that we have Christ that we can lean on because he is that redemption within us.
• 8:39
  Daniel Moore: And, you know, when I look at our marriage that way, um, it really makes me understand how important you are in this whole equation.
• 8:48
  Daniel Moore: And I think it probably makes you feel important.
• 8:50
  Michelle Moore: It does.
• 8:51
  Daniel Moore: Uh, you know, the this last month or so is I've tried to do what I could to help take and alleviate that uh extra work and stuff off of you so you could get better because you're having a rough time at work too, right now.
• 9:03
  Daniel Moore: Super busy.
• 9:04
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, it's super busy, and you couldn't really stop.
• 9:08
  Michelle Moore: No.
• 9:08
  Daniel Moore: I I would prefer you to sit on the key.
• 9:11
  Michelle Moore: My body needed it.
• 9:12
  Michelle Moore: It truly needed it, but it was not uh an option.
• 9:15
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, and so whenever it comes down to that, uh, that's when we need someone to be there.
• 9:21
  Daniel Moore: And so we can lean on Christ as Christians when we need, you know, stuff in life and we're going through things.
• 9:28
  Daniel Moore: Christ is there, God is there for us to lean on, and then in our marriages, we're there to lean on each other.
• 9:34
  Michelle Moore: Right.
• 9:34
  Daniel Moore: And so that that just opens up this picture of redemption and what this really means.
• 9:40
  Daniel Moore: And I like how, you know, it's mentioned here, it's not just a one-time event, right?
• 9:44
  Daniel Moore: This is an ongoing love.
• 9:46
  Daniel Moore: This is an active verb, basically, just like loving you and you loving me.
• 9:51
  Daniel Moore: That's an ongoing thing that happens moment by moment by moment.
• 9:55
  Daniel Moore: And as a matter of fact, the longer that goes, the more it should grow.
• 9:58
  Daniel Moore: Right.
• 9:59
  Daniel Moore: Because that's just how that that works.
• 10:01
  Daniel Moore: And so over a lifetime, you know, we're not just justified that once, as I had put in here, but it's actually sanctified over a lifetime.
• 10:10
  Daniel Moore: Uh, this continues on into eternity.
• 10:13
  Daniel Moore: And so, you know, if uh if you look at Colossians chapter 3, verse 13, it reminds us that bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.
• 10:30
  Daniel Moore: So marriage becomes one of the clearest places where this ongoing redemption is lived out.
• 10:35
  Daniel Moore: When offenses come and we know that they're going to, spouses are given repeated opportunities to forgive, not because forgiveness is easy, because we know it's not easy.
• 10:45
  Daniel Moore: Right.
• 10:46
  Daniel Moore: It's always hard to forgive, and it's not deserved really, but it's because Christ has already forgiven us.
• 10:52
  Daniel Moore: And so again, this comes back to the cross when we start looking at this.
• 10:57
  Daniel Moore: So, as a little example here, are you up to reading that?
• 11:02
  Michelle Moore: Yeah, I can read it.
• 11:02
  Michelle Moore: Go ahead and imagine a husband who wounds his wife with careless or harsh words spoken in anger, criticism, or neglect.
• 11:10
  Michelle Moore: Left unchecked, those words could easily harden into bitterness, emotional distance, and relational isolation.
• 11:18
  Michelle Moore: But when the wife, though genuinely hurt, chooses to address the offense with humility and extends forgiveness grounded in Christ's grace, the marriage begins to reflect the cross.
• 11:30
  Michelle Moore: Her forgiveness does not deny the pain, it redeems it.
• 11:34
  Michelle Moore: It mirrors the mercy God has shown us, grace given freely, even at a personal cost.
• 11:41
  Michelle Moore: And redemption flows both ways.
• 11:43
  Michelle Moore: A gospel-shaped marriage does not just forgive wrongdoing, it also restores the repentant.
• 11:50
  Michelle Moore: When a spouse seeks forgiveness and is met not with shame, punishment, or prolonged resentment, but with gentleness and a desire for healing, redemption is on display.
• 12:03
  Michelle Moore: Galatians 6 1 says, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.
• 12:14
  Daniel Moore: And I I like there where you were reading about when that forgiveness is extended to the person, then you know, it doesn't again, we don't ever want to uh to make it sound like we're allowing allowing somebody just walk over us because that's not what it's all about.
• 12:32
  Daniel Moore: Um we're not giving get out of jail free cards.
• 12:35
  Daniel Moore: Right.
• 12:36
  Daniel Moore: That's not what this is about.
• 12:37
  Daniel Moore: But it it redeems it.
• 12:39
  Daniel Moore: And so, like if I did something towards you and you needed to actually give, you know, me the forgiveness and and I was repentant and you offered that forgiveness back to me, then what that does at that point is that redemption flows both ways, and then I feel more I feel built back up into our marriage again because I know that you love me enough that you're going to forgive me.
• 13:06
  Daniel Moore: Right.
• 13:06
  Daniel Moore: And move past that.
• 13:08
  Daniel Moore: And the same goes, you know, the other direction.
• 13:11
  Daniel Moore: And so uh, whenever a spouse, when when we have a spouse that does us wrong, and when we go to seek forgiveness for that because we're truly repentant about it in our heart, um, that's where that spouse has to make a choice that had the wrongdoing done to them.
• 13:28
  Daniel Moore: They've got to decide am I going to shame, punish, or prolong that resentment by being mean, or am I going to be Christ-like in my nature and recognize my spouse is truly repentant and then go ahead and reflect what the cross done for us.
• 13:43
  Daniel Moore: We didn't deserve none of that.
• 13:45
  Daniel Moore: Right.
• 13:45
  Daniel Moore: But Christ gave it to us anyway, and that goes right into our marriages.
• 13:49
  Daniel Moore: You know, when we do our spouses wrong, we're mean, we do whatever it may be that causes the conflict.
• 13:56
  Daniel Moore: We probably really don't deserve to be forgiven for that because we shouldn't have done it in the first place.
• 14:01
  Daniel Moore: That was very mean of us.
• 14:02
  Daniel Moore: But because of what Christ has done, that allows us, we put we give that forgiveness as well.
• 14:08
  Michelle Moore: Right.
• 14:09
  Daniel Moore: And that redemption.
• 14:10
  Daniel Moore: Go ahead and continue reading there.
• 14:12
  Michelle Moore: Restoration, not rejection.
• 14:15
  Michelle Moore: Gentleness, not gloating.
• 14:18
  Michelle Moore: That is the fruit of redemptive love.
• 14:21
  Michelle Moore: Redeeming love is not blind to sin, but it refuses to define a person by their worst moment.
• 14:29
  Michelle Moore: It chooses to see the other through the lens of God's grace and redemptive purpose.
• 14:35
  Michelle Moore: When Jesus spoke to the woman caught in adultery, he said, Neither do I condemn you, go and from now on and sin no more.
• 14:44
  Michelle Moore: And you can find that in John 8 11.
• 14:47
  Michelle Moore: He did not excuse her sin, but neither did he discard her.
• 14:52
  Michelle Moore: He offered mercy alongside transformation.
• 14:56
  Michelle Moore: Marriage provides countless moments to extend that same kind of grace.
• 15:01
  Michelle Moore: Scripture gives us an even more vivid picture through the story of Hosea and Gomer, a prophet commanded by God to pursue his unfaithful wife.
• 15:13
  Michelle Moore: Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man, and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel.
• 15:26
  Michelle Moore: This is a covenant love at its rawest, unyielding, persistent, and costly.
• 15:33
  Michelle Moore: Marriage offers couples the opportunity to mirror that kind of redemptive love, especially in seasons when love feels hardest.
• 15:42
  Michelle Moore: Not love based on performance, but love rooted in the covenant of faithfulness.
• 15:48
  Daniel Moore: And as we look back here on something that you just read, I that really stuck out to me is when we was when you was reading there about uh Jesus and the woman caught that was caught in adultery, you know, he didn't excuse her sin, but neither did he discard her.
• 16:04
  Michelle Moore: Right.
• 16:05
  Daniel Moore: And that just kind of reminds me, you know, of of the times that we see couples that just are very hateful when their spouse does something because they expect them to be perfect and put on this pedestal or whatever, and they get very hateful with them when stuff comes up, and you know, in essence, they might kind of discard them for a while and you know, push them away and like you're gonna pay for this one way or the other.
• 16:32
  Daniel Moore: You know, it's like you're gonna remember what you did to me and you're gonna regret you ever done it, you know.
• 16:38
  Daniel Moore: And when we look at it with that kind of an attitude, that is not Christ-like in nature.
• 16:43
  Michelle Moore: You're exactly right.
• 16:44
  Daniel Moore: And you know, there's I there's times that you and I've probably been borderline um with you know treating each other that way um before because and it's easy to do when you have a repetitive situation where it seems like a spouse continually is doing things that they shouldn't be.
• 17:02
  Daniel Moore: And but again, we have to look at it from cr in Christ's eyes.
• 17:08
  Michelle Moore: I I think that's where a lot of times I know that we went wrong.
• 17:12
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 17:12
  Michelle Moore: We just we were not centered around Christ at all.
• 17:15
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 17:16
  Michelle Moore: And I mean, it was just said the words that we just need to say, and it was like it was definitely we didn't stop and think, okay, you know, my relationship with Christ means more, and my love for my husband means more than the words gonna be spoken.
• 17:31
  Michelle Moore: I think you know that that was a huge issue for us.
• 17:34
  Michelle Moore: So what you just said is just exactly right.
• 17:37
  Daniel Moore: And then and then keeping abuse out of the picture, as long as there's no abuse and that kind of thing, because we understand there's a certain point where there's a line, you gotta draw a line somewhere.
• 17:47
  Daniel Moore: But if you do have, and looking at at Hosea and Gomer is a good example, uh you know, she was a prostitute, so she was repetitively sleeping with other men while God was instructing Hosea to love her.
• 18:02
  Daniel Moore: And today, if you see somebody that repetitively sins against their spouse like that, the other spouse a lot of time loses their mercy and their grace really quick.
• 18:12
  Michelle Moore: It'd be very difficult.
• 18:13
  Daniel Moore: It's hard not to.
• 18:14
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 18:15
  Daniel Moore: And but you but you know, looking at it in in Christ's eyes, we do the same thing to him and we repetitively sin.
• 18:22
  Michelle Moore: Yes.
• 18:22
  Daniel Moore: And it might have been what you was getting ready to say.
• 18:24
  Michelle Moore: Yeah, actually it was.
• 18:25
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 18:26
  Michelle Moore: You just you said it right on my I mean, I didn't even get a chance.
• 18:29
  Michelle Moore: I was getting ready to.
• 18:30
  Michelle Moore: Yeah.
• 18:30
  Michelle Moore: But yes, you said that exactly.
• 18:32
  Michelle Moore: That's because that's what we do.
• 18:34
  Daniel Moore: Yeah, and so it's and it's hard.
• 18:36
  Daniel Moore: I'm not saying it's easy if your spouse continually does things against you that sin and against your marital covenant.
• 18:43
  Daniel Moore: That's very difficult road to walk, and I don't wish that on anybody.
• 18:46
  Daniel Moore: But at the same time, we do have the power through Christ to get past that and continually pray for our spouse in our marriage, that God will restore that.
• 18:56
  Daniel Moore: And so if we do that, then redemption will unfold over time.
• 19:01
  Daniel Moore: Because you know, sanctification is a process, it's not an instant transformation.
• 19:06
  Daniel Moore: You can't get sanctification in a microwave packet and push it for 30 seconds and it's there.
• 19:12
  Daniel Moore: Just as Christ is preparing his church to be presented in splendor, husbands and wives walk together through growth and failure, joy and sorrow, strength and weakness.
• 19:21
  Daniel Moore: 2 Corinthians 3 18 tells us that we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
• 19:30
  Daniel Moore: That transformation often happens quietly over years of faithfulness, forgiveness, and perseverance.
• 19:36
  Daniel Moore: When a husband and wife remain committed even when emotions fade or circumstances strain the relationship, that endurance itself becomes redemptive.
• 19:45
  Daniel Moore: It declares to the world that their love is not sustained by fleeting feelings, but by a covenant anchored in God's unchanging faithfulness.
• 19:53
  Daniel Moore: And this is exactly why when they say love is a feeling, that's that's a lie.
• 20:00
  Daniel Moore: That's not correct.
• 20:01
  Daniel Moore: Love is not a feeling.
• 20:03
  Daniel Moore: Because if we lived on our feelings when we go through our marriages, would if you and I were both uh being married by our feelings, do you think we'd still be married to this day?
• 20:14
  Michelle Moore: No.
• 20:14
  Daniel Moore: No, because because there's a lot of times that you don't feel like loving me, and there's times that I didn't feel like loving you.
• 20:21
  Daniel Moore: We cannot look at it as a feeling because it's not.
• 20:24
  Daniel Moore: Love is a mindset, love is a covenant, love is a decision that you make, and you're going to make that choice regardless of what you go through because of the covenant relationship that we have in marriage that Christ has ordained.
• 20:38
  Daniel Moore: And so it's not going to be sustained by just fleeting feelings.
• 20:43
  Daniel Moore: There's got to be more to it.
• 20:44
  Daniel Moore: There's got to be more meat to that.
• 20:46
  Daniel Moore: You know, consider a couple walking through infertility, their prayers feel unanswered, grief settles in, and the emotional weight strains their relationship.
• 20:55
  Daniel Moore: Yet instead of turning against each other, they choose to hold one another close, to cry together, pray together, and remind each other of God's promises.
• 21:03
  Daniel Moore: Well, every day they resist blame and lean into Christ together, they testify to a deeper love, a love that redeems brokenness with hope and suffering with purpose.
• 21:13
  Daniel Moore: You know, in the end, marriage is not primarily about two people finding happiness, though joy is certainly a gift along the way.
• 21:21
  Daniel Moore: But at its highest purpose, marriage exists to display the gospel.
• 21:25
  Daniel Moore: It makes the redemptive love of Christ visible in ordinary, everyday life.
• 21:30
  Daniel Moore: You know, when husbands and wives pursue reconciliation the way that God pursued us, just like you mentioned earlier, uh, when you were when you was going to say, you know, that we sin against God all the time.
• 21:41
  Daniel Moore: Uh when when husbands and wives choose grace over revenge, when they choose patience over pride, when spouses choose humility over entitlement, then they they proclaim to a watching world that God is still in the business of redeeming broken things.
• 21:56
  Daniel Moore: And that's a mission worth giving your whole life to.
• 21:59
  Daniel Moore: That's the best way to build that foundation of your marriage.
• 22:04
  Daniel Moore: You and I would not be anywhere we're at right now if we did not put those things into practice in our marriage because things are gonna happen.
• 22:12
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 22:13
  Michelle Moore: Took us a while.
• 22:14
  Daniel Moore: It did.
• 22:14
  Daniel Moore: Took us quite a while.
• 22:16
  Michelle Moore: But I'm so thankful that, you know, we do put them in practice.
• 22:19
  Daniel Moore: But you know, even now, if you know, we get along really well.
• 22:22
  Daniel Moore: We have very little conflict in our marriage at all.
• 22:25
  Daniel Moore: But it's not because the opportunity's not there.
• 22:28
  Michelle Moore: Right.
• 22:29
  Daniel Moore: We have plenty of opportunity for all of that stuff, believe me.
• 22:32
  Michelle Moore: Oh, yes, we do.
• 22:34
  Daniel Moore: But we have made a choice that we aren't going there anymore.
• 22:38
  Daniel Moore: And that is self-control.
• 22:40
  Daniel Moore: You can have self-control in your marriage, and it'll help you have a happy marriage.
• 22:44
  Daniel Moore: It really will.
• 22:46
  Daniel Moore: But both of you got to be in that same mind frame and understand where we stand in Christ.
• 22:51
  Daniel Moore: As we continue here, we're going to talk about love, sacrifice, submission, and grace.
• 23:12
  Daniel Moore: You know, modeling the gospel in marriage means intentionally reflecting Christ's love, sacrifice, submission, and grace within the everyday rhythms of the relationship.
• 23:20
  Daniel Moore: These are not abstract theological ideas, they are lived realities meant to shape how husbands and wives speak, serve, forgive, and lead one another.
• 23:29
  Daniel Moore: Each of these components mirrors the relationship between Christ and his church and provides practical ways for couples to live out their faith daily, often in quiet, unseen moments.
• 23:39
  Daniel Moore: So the first one is love, and you want to share that with us?
• 23:42
  Michelle Moore: Love is foundational to marriage, just as it is central to the gospel itself.
• 23:47
  Michelle Moore: Scripture tells us plainly in Ephesians 5 25, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
• 23:57
  Michelle Moore: This sets the standard for marital love, not a love driven by convenience, emotion, or self-interest, but a love that gives, serves, and lays itself down for the good of the other.
• 24:10
  Michelle Moore: Biblical love is not merely a feeling, it is a committed choice to seek another's highest good.
• 24:16
  Michelle Moore: In 1 Corinthians 13, 4 through 7, Paul describes love as patient and kind and not arrogant or rude.
• 24:25
  Michelle Moore: It's not assisting on its own way or not easily angered.
• 24:30
  Michelle Moore: This kind of love bears with weaknesses, forgives failures, and rejoices in truth.
• 24:36
  Michelle Moore: When spouses embody these qualities, they reflect the unconditional covenantal love Christ has shown us, a love that remains faithful even when it costs something.
• 24:48
  Michelle Moore: Jesus Himself modeled his this love when he said, As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
• 24:56
  Michelle Moore: John 13, 34.
• 24:58
  Michelle Moore: In marriage, this means choosing compassion over criticism, patience over irritation, and faithfulness over fleeting feelings.
• 25:09
  Daniel Moore: And you know love is really self-explanatory.
• 25:12
  Daniel Moore: It should be.
• 25:13
  Daniel Moore: If you truly love something, you know what that means typically.
• 25:17
  Daniel Moore: Um but uh again, as it was as we mentioned earlier, love's not just a feeling, it is a committed choice.
• 25:25
  Daniel Moore: It is a decision that you have to make.
• 25:28
  Daniel Moore: And we have plenty of opportunity as we read through the Bible to see how true love is supposed to be.
• 25:36
  Daniel Moore: Um, you know, Jesus modeled it everywhere, and he models it to us every day in every moment of our life right now.
• 25:43
  Daniel Moore: Uh so love is one of the first uh pillars, if you if you will, um, that we need to have in a marriage that reflects the gospel of Christ.
• 25:54
  Daniel Moore: The second one is sacrifice.
• 25:56
  Daniel Moore: At the heart of the gospel is sacrifice, Christ willingly giving himself for salvation.
• 26:02
  Daniel Moore: So marriage becomes one of the most tangible places where this sacrificial love is practiced daily.
• 26:07
  Daniel Moore: Philippians chapter 2, verses 3 and 4 instructs us do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
• 26:17
  Daniel Moore: This posture is essential in a Christ-centered marriage.
• 26:21
  Daniel Moore: Sacrifice in marriage may look ordinary on the surface, but it carries eternal weight.
• 26:25
  Daniel Moore: It might mean laying down personal preferences for the sake of unity, choosing to encourage your spouse when you're exhausted, or serving without expecting immediate return.
• 26:35
  Daniel Moore: Jesus described this posture when he said, The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve in Mark 10 45.
• 26:43
  Daniel Moore: When spouses adopt this mindset, they mirror the servant-hearted love of Christ.
• 26:49
  Daniel Moore: So do you see sacrifice in our marriage?
• 26:52
  Michelle Moore: Oh, absolutely.
• 26:53
  Michelle Moore: All the time between both of us.
• 26:56
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 26:56
  Michelle Moore: I mean, there's not usually it it could be a daily thing.
• 26:59
  Michelle Moore: I mean, it could be a moment thing.
• 27:01
  Michelle Moore: I mean, it literally, I see it happen all the time from from the both of us.
• 27:06
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 27:06
  Daniel Moore: And I find it interesting that one of the scriptures here that I've pulled to represent this, the first thing it talks about is pride, selfish ambition, conceit.
• 27:17
  Daniel Moore: Those are a lot of the items that keeps us from being sacrificial.
• 27:21
  Daniel Moore: And I'm not to look at myself that I'm better than you, that I'm higher than you, or vice versa.
• 27:29
  Daniel Moore: Uh I need I should be try I treat you like a should be treating you like a queen, basically.
• 27:34
  Daniel Moore: I mean, that's just the the whole concept of what this marriage covenant truly means.
• 27:39
  Daniel Moore: And I'm gonna sacrifice whatever it takes to make sure that you're taken care of, make sure that you're happy, and you do the same thing for me.
• 27:47
  Michelle Moore: I was gonna say, I think that should be on um the receiving and both giving.
• 27:52
  Michelle Moore: You know, um, it shouldn't be just one one person doing that in a marriage, you know, it should be on both.
• 27:58
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 27:58
  Daniel Moore: And if you can do that, then you'll have a really good marriage, a really good relationship.
• 28:03
  Daniel Moore: So go ahead and share the next one with us.
• 28:06
  Michelle Moore: Yeah, it is submission.
• 28:08
  Michelle Moore: Submission when understood biblically is not about control or being inferior, but about willingly yielding out of love and reverence for Christ.
• 28:18
  Michelle Moore: Ephesians 5 21 sets the tone for the entire passage by saying, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
• 28:27
  Michelle Moore: This mutual submission calls both husband and wife to approach the relationship with humility and a servant's heart.
• 28:34
  Michelle Moore: Ephesians 5 22 through 24 then explains how wives are to submit to their husbands as to the Lord.
• 28:41
  Michelle Moore: While husbands are called to lovingly lead through the self-sacrificial love, this does not diminish worth of value.
• 28:49
  Michelle Moore: Both husband and wife are equal image bearers of God.
• 28:52
  Michelle Moore: It's found in Genesis 1 27.
• 28:54
  Michelle Moore: Rather, it reflects God's intentional design and order within the marriage.
• 28:59
  Michelle Moore: Jesus himself provides the ultimate example of submission.
• 29:04
  Michelle Moore: In Luke 22, 42, he prayed, Not my will, but yours be done.
• 29:10
  Michelle Moore: His submission to the Father was an act of trust and obedience, not weakness.
• 29:16
  Michelle Moore: Likewise, godly submission and marriage honors Christ and fosters unity, safety, and mutual respect.
• 29:24
  Daniel Moore: And we've got kind of a rolling theme going here pride.
• 29:30
  Daniel Moore: We got to pull that pride down and being a servant.
• 29:34
  Daniel Moore: Uh we just talked about that when we were talking about sacrifice, uh being a servant to each other.
• 29:40
  Daniel Moore: And so here again, as we get into submission, and I know the popular scripture is wives submit yourselves to your husband, and that is scripturally biblical to what it actually means, but in all in all reality, with all of this, we both submit ourselves to each other because this, like you said, was it's an equal playing field.
• 30:00
  Daniel Moore: And so whenever we have a relationship with Christ, we actually take on the likeness of a servant because that's why Jesus came, was to be, he came to serve, to be a servant.
• 30:14
  Daniel Moore: And so we take that on.
• 30:15
  Daniel Moore: And for us to do that, if I'm going to be a servant to you, then I'm gonna have to take my pride out of the equation.
• 30:22
  Daniel Moore: I'm gonna have to make sure that everything that I do is oriented and making sure that we have the best relationship possible that I can, you know, possibly bring to the table.
• 30:33
  Daniel Moore: And you do the same for me.
• 30:35
  Daniel Moore: Yeah.
• 30:36
  Daniel Moore: And so uh that that really takes uh puts a lot of um a different aspect, I guess, a different twist um into our relationship uh when we look at it that way.
• 30:49
  Daniel Moore: So we've talked about love, we've talked about sacrifice, we've talked about submission, and the fourth one is grace.
• 30:56
  Daniel Moore: And grace is the atmosphere in which gospel-centered marriages thrive.
• 31:00
  Daniel Moore: It reflects God's unarned favor toward us, his kindness extended despite our failures.
• 31:06
  Daniel Moore: Romans 5.8 reminds us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
• 31:10
  Daniel Moore: That's something that we talked about earlier, where you know we continually can sin against Christ and not live the life we're supposed to, but he's still gonna love us anyway.
• 31:20
  Daniel Moore: That same grace is meant to overflow into our marriages.
• 31:23
  Daniel Moore: Colossians 3.13 instructs believers to bear with one another and forgive one another as the Lord has forgiven you.
• 31:30
  Daniel Moore: Grace in marriage means choosing mercy over judgment, forgiveness over resentment, and restoration over rejection.
• 31:37
  Daniel Moore: It acknowledges wrongdoing without weaponizing it and makes room for healing, growth, and reconciliation between each other.
• 31:45
  Daniel Moore: Grace does not excuse sin, but it creates a safe place for repentance and renewal.
• 31:50
  Daniel Moore: As James 213 tells us, mercy triumphs over judgment.
• 31:55
  Daniel Moore: When spouses consistently practice grace, they create a relationship rooted in the same mercy that God has shown them.
• 32:02
  Daniel Moore: And I think you probably might agree with me, grace is probably one of the hardest things in a relationship to to mirror to our spouse.
• 32:13
  Daniel Moore: And even if it's not hard, if if it's not a hard thing to mirror, it's sometimes something we don't want to mirror.
• 32:20
  Daniel Moore: You know, it's uh that it gets back into that thing where sometimes well you deserve this because you did that, you know.
• 32:27
  Daniel Moore: And we we have a tendency to want to say that instead of actually give that grace to our spouse and ask, you know, for the forgiveness and the reconciliation and for all that to take place.
• 32:39
  Daniel Moore: And so these are just some important things that we have to put into place if we're going to let our marriage reflect the gospel.
• 32:47
  Daniel Moore: For it to look like that relationship that we have with Christ, and we're gonna have to have that love.
• 32:52
  Daniel Moore: We're gonna have to have the sacrifice, the submission, and the grace.
• 32:56
  Daniel Moore: And, you know, those are four solid pillars.
• 32:58
  Daniel Moore: If you can put all of this into place and accomplish this, I'd say you're gonna have to have you probably have a pretty good marriage if you can make all that happen.
• 33:07
  Daniel Moore: It's lessons we've had to learn over the years.
• 33:10
  Michelle Moore: You're right.
• 33:11
  Daniel Moore: We've been successful in doing that.
• 33:13
  Daniel Moore: And so finally, a living testimony of the gospel.
• 33:17
  Daniel Moore: When love, sacrifice, submission, and grace are actively practiced in marriage, the relationship becomes more than a partnership.
• 33:25
  Daniel Moore: It becomes a living testimony of the gospel.
• 33:27
  Daniel Moore: Marriage then serves as a visible portrait of Christ's relationship with his people, pointing beyond itself to the beauty of God's redemptive design.
• 33:35
  Daniel Moore: So, in this way, a Christ-centered marriage glorifies God, strengthens the couple, and quietly draws others toward the hope and healing found in the gospel.
• 33:47
  Daniel Moore: So as we get close to wrapping up this episode here, is there anything that you want to add to this?
• 33:54
  Michelle Moore: No, it was really good.
• 33:55
  Daniel Moore: Um, I think that there's just a lot of reminders here, probably, because I think that anybody that's been in a Christian relationship or Christian marriage, uh I'm sure that, you know, they've probably walked a lot of this, hopefully, and put it into practice.
• 34:10
  Daniel Moore: But then sometimes some of us forget too.
• 34:13
  Daniel Moore: And so I think this can be a good reminder of what our relationship should look like and how we should look uh as we endeavor to have our marriage being a reflection of Christ and who he is.
• 34:26
  Daniel Moore: Uh, like them, subscribe to them.
• 34:51
  Daniel Moore: Uh, we have a new episode every week that comes out on Thursday, and we know that you probably have a married couple in your life that could benefit from uh you know taking part in the series that we're in right now.
• 35:02
  Daniel Moore: Again, this is based on the first book that I wrote.
• 35:04
  Daniel Moore: And if you'd like to get a copy of that or the study guide that goes along with it, and you can kind of follow us along.
• 35:10
  Daniel Moore: We're only into chapter two of that book right at the moment.
• 35:13
  Daniel Moore: Uh, you can go to our website at marriage lifeandmore.com and purchase that, or you can purchase the book anywhere online that you can purchase books.
• 35:21
  Daniel Moore: So to bring this episode to a close, here's what we want to leave you with.
• 35:25
  Daniel Moore: Marriage was never meant to be just about compatibility, happiness, or survival.
• 35:30
  Daniel Moore: It was designed to tell a greater story.
• 35:32
  Daniel Moore: Your marriage is meant to point beyond itself to the redeeming love of Jesus Christ.
• 35:37
  Daniel Moore: When we view marriage through the lens of the gospel, everything changes.
• 35:42
  Daniel Moore: Love becomes more than emotion, and it becomes a choice rooted in covenant.
• 35:47
  Daniel Moore: Sacrifice becomes purposeful, submission becomes an act of trust and humility.
• 35:52
  Daniel Moore: Grace becomes the atmosphere where healing and growth can actually take place.
• 35:57
  Daniel Moore: And in all of it, Christ is not just our example, he is our strength.
• 36:03
  Michelle Moore: The beauty of this is that God doesn't ask for perfection.
• 36:06
  Michelle Moore: He invites participation, he uses ordinary couples and perfect people in everyday moments to display extraordinary gospel.
• 36:15
  Michelle Moore: Whether it's forgiving a harsh word, choosing patience when you're exhausted, or staying faithful through a hard season.
• 36:22
  Michelle Moore: These moments matter.
• 36:24
  Michelle Moore: They preach the gospel louder than we often realize.
• 36:28
  Michelle Moore: So if you're listening today and thinking, we've missed the mark, take heart.
• 36:32
  Michelle Moore: Redemption is not just something Christ did once.
• 36:35
  Michelle Moore: It's something he is still doing.
• 36:38
  Michelle Moore: No marriage is beyond his restoring grace.
• 36:41
  Michelle Moore: As long as Christ is at the center, there's always hope, growth, and renewal.
• 36:46
  Daniel Moore: So as you go from here, our encouragement is simple.
• 36:49
  Daniel Moore: Love like Christ loves, serve like Christ serves, forgive like Christ forgives, and trust God with the results.
• 36:58
  Daniel Moore: When you do, your marriage becomes more than a relationship, it becomes a testimony.
• 37:03
  Daniel Moore: God is still in the business of redeeming broken things, even and especially through marriage.
• 37:10
  Daniel Moore: Well, that's going to be all for this week, and we pray that your marriage is stronger and your walk with God is closer after this episode.
• 37:17
  Daniel Moore: This is an extension of Connecting the Gap Ministries, and we pray that you have a blessed week.