Marriage as Friendship
September 13, 2023
Marriage is a cosmic friendship, a spiritual friendship, a friendship with eternal dimensions. Marriage is not romance garnished with friendship. Rather, biblically, marriage is friendship garnished with romance.
If you’re going to marry somebody, you should marry someone who is now or has the potential to be your very best friend. But friendship is not just a feeling of affection. Friendship is a particular form of love, and it has a structure.
The structure of friendship is a deep oneness that comes from two people journeying together toward a common horizon. Let’s look now at 1) the common horizon, 2) how you get to that horizon, and 3) the implications of journeying together toward that horizon.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 15, 1991. Series: Marriage. Scripture: Ephesians 5:22-33.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
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I’m tired of listening to sentimental, slurpy talks on marriage during weddings and in Sunday school and in sermons. They have about as much depth and reality to them as a Hallmark card. The fact is, marriage is many things—in fact, it’s everything except slurpy and sentimental.
Marriage is glorious: it’s a burning strength and joy. Marriage is hard: it’s blood, and it’s sweat, and it’s tears. It’s defeats, and it’s victories. It’s almost everything except sweet.
We’re in a series on the Bible’s view of marriage. We’ve already looked at the power, the definition, and the priority of marriage. We look now at 1) the great purpose of marriage, and 2) what this purpose means in practicality.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 8, 1991. Series: Marriage. Scripture: Ephesians 5:22-33.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
September 11, 2023
The purpose of marriage is friendship, companionship. Your spouse has to be your best friend, or you don’t have a marriage. I know that’s not traditional, but it’s biblical.
We’re in a series looking at marriage: at its power, its definition, its priority, its purpose, its structure, and its mystery. So far, we’ve looked at the power of marriage and the definition of marriage. Now we’ll look more into the definition of marriage and then at the priority marriage.
We’ll look now at 1) three critical aspects without which a marriage will not run, 2) the definition of marriage, and 3) the priority of marriage.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on September 1, 1991. Series: Marriage. Scripture: Ephesians 5:22-33.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
September 8, 2023
Ephesians 5 is the most detailed and famous of New Testament passages about marriage. It shows us the power, the definition, the priority, the purpose, the structure, and the mystery of marriage.
In this series, we’ve already looked at the power of marriage, though we’ll talk a little more about it now. Then the next aspect to discuss is the definition of marriage: that marriage is a covenant.
We’ll look at 1) what it means that marriage is a covenant and 2) the amazing and practical ramifications of marital commitment.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 25, 1991. Series: Marriage. Scripture: Ephesians 5:22-33.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
September 6, 2023
Whether you’re single, married, widowed, or divorced, you can immediately apply Scripture’s teachings about marriage to your life.
According to the Scripture, marriage is a divine invention. It stands apart from other human institutions because it didn’t evolve out of human thinking. And the basic principles for marriage that are laid out in Ephesians 5 are critical to our understanding of what God says marriage is.
We’ll look now at the first of these basic principles: Self-centeredness is the main enemy of any marriage.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on August 18, 1991. Series: Marriage. Scripture: Ephesians 5:22-33.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
September 4, 2023
There are obvious ways Christian hope affects us, like in the way we face death and troubles. But I’d like to show you that Christian hope affects everything, every area of our lives.
The biblical understanding of hope is a life-shaping, joyous certainty that your future is the eternal love and glory of God and a new heavens and new earth. And this Christian hope even determines and revolutionizes our whole attitude toward sex, romance, singleness, and marriage.
This passage in 1 Corinthians 6 and 7 is outrageous in all sorts of ways. It shows us that 1) Christianity gave the world a revolutionary view of sex, 2) Christianity gave the world a revolutionary view of singleness and marriage, and 3) Christian hope radically reshapes our approach, our actions, and our attitudes in this area.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on April 18, 2004. Series: Living in Hope. Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:13-20; 7:27-31.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
September 1, 2023
There are two problems people have with God today: the problem of evil and suffering, and the problem with the exclusiveness of religion.
We’re all in the same boat here. Whether you believe in God or you don’t believe in God, you still have these two problems. Because they get at something that really is a problem. But the real question is, are they insurmountable? Can we find a way through them?
I’d like to give you something to consider as a possible way through: it’s important to see 1) that people’s problems with religion are themselves beliefs which in turn have their own problems, and 2) that Christianity has a unique resource for each of these problems.
This talk was given by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on November 9, 2003. Series: Redeemer Open Forums.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
August 30, 2023
Most of the great world religions share a tremendous amount of ethical common ground. But suddenly, Jesus breaks through all the conventional principles of morality—he soars into the stratosphere and puts forth the most radical love ethic anyone has ever seriously presented.
On the one hand, when we hear it, we feel we’re in the presence of something sublime. But there’s another side to us that has difficulty with it, because it sure looks like Jesus is saying, “Let people walk all over you.”
But what we actually have here is a set of remarkable balances. Let’s take a look at two balances: 1) There is the balance between the tough and the tender (between justice and kindness), and 2) there is a balance between the inner and the outer.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 21, 1993. Series: Hard Sayings of Jesus (1993). Scripture: Luke 6:20-36.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
August 28, 2023
As we look at the hard sayings of Jesus, we see in this passage that Jesus gives us a radical principle of truthfulness.
The whole Bible is built on covenants, public promises, observed words. So what does Jesus mean when he says to let your “yes” be “yes”? He can’t mean you can’t take oaths. What he does mean is actually something almost the opposite, that if you think you can separate and create levels of truthfulness, you’re wrong. Everything is observed. Every yes and every no is an oath.
Jesus is teaching us 1) the importance of truthfulness, 2) the nature of truthfulness, and 3) how you become a person of integrity.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 14, 1993. Series: Hard Sayings of Jesus (1993). Scripture: Matthew 5:33-37.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
August 25, 2023
We’re looking at the most strange, enigmatic, perplexing things Jesus ever said. This is one of them. People always blink a bit when they read it.
But here, Jesus is actually teaching us about power to change. He’s telling us something extremely practical.
Even though it’s an enigmatic passage, Jesus is basically saying three things: 1) There are many ways to change, 2) if you use any way but Jesus, you’ll be worse off than before, and 3) Jesus is the only one who can give you the power to change thoroughly and permanently.
This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on February 7, 1993. Series: Hard Sayings of Jesus (1993). Scripture: Luke 11:14-26.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
August 23, 2023
In this interview from November 2019, Rebecca McLaughlin talks about some of the inspiration for writing her book Confronting Christianity and some of the insight she's gained in her life that led her to address the hardest questions that Christians face today. As she talks about her experiences, you will learn how and why she believes that Christianity is objectively the best hope for the modern world. Interview hosted by Chuck Armstrong.
Today's podcast episode is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.
August 22, 2023
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Featured Offer
Are You Being Shaped by the Gospel?
In his book, "Shaped by the Gospel," Tim Killer helps you discover how reflecting on the essence, truths, and patterns of the gospel leads to renewal in your life, church, and ministry. When you give to Gospel in Life this month, we’ll send you a copy of "Shaped by the Gospel" as our thanks.