You're listening to Mountain View Church Audio, Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City, Whitehorse UConn. Here's this week's message. I cast my mind to Calvary, where Jesus bled and died for me. I see his wounds, his hands, his feet. My Savior on that cursed tree, his body bound and drenched in tears.
They laid him down in Joseph's tomb. The entrance sealed by heavy stone. Messiah still and all alone. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise his name forevermore. For endless days we will sing your praise. Oh, Lord, oh, Lord our God.
The Son of Heaven rose again. O trampled death, where is your sting? The angels roar for Christ the King. O praise the name of the Lord our God. I'll praise His name forevermore. We will sing your praise, O Lord, O Lord our God.
in robes of white. The blazing sun shall pierce the night and I will rise among the saints. My gaze transfixed on Jesus' feet. Oh, praise the name of the Lord our God. Oh, praise His name forevermore.
I have three pieces of rope here. Now, one piece on its own, one strand, it can hold some tension and some weight, but it's more vulnerable than if I were to twist these two strands together.
like so but even with the second strand it can come unraveled and as you can see as it twists and and as it bears weight and then pulls back there's these little gaps that form but now we add the third chord and we weave them or braid them together back and forth back and forth we're strengthening this chord little by little all right now you see far stronger than two and a lot way stronger than one And now when it bends and it twists, it's kind of locked in, each one. And three strands woven together, it's kind of become the standard over history for how a rope should be formed. Now, maybe not braided like this, and there's different ways to do it, but throughout history, a three-strand cord, that's something strong. And this core wisdom principle is actually found in scripture, that a three-fold cord is not quickly broken. The image of the three-fold cord is pointing to building a strong relationship.
The problem is, is that we typically assume relationships as a couple, as a partnership, spouses. And you might be thinking to yourself, okay, well, I don't get it. Why three? Well, the deeper imagery is that the first strand, represented by this yellow one here, this first strand, it existed long before a couple ever met, before the first date, before the couple ever walked down the aisle. In fact, the first strand was already a part of an unbreakable cord, God, eternally in relationship as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You see,
Marriage isn't about two people twisting themselves into a cord, depending on each other's own strength. It's centered on being woven into the one who already existed as a threefold cord. Again, God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And within this reality, the couple's dependence and belonging are radically reoriented. They're no longer seeking fulfillment and meaning from each other, but from the original source, their creator.
Welcome to Mountain View Church. My name is Jeremy and I serve as the lead pastor. Today we're launching into a new teaching series titled Nodded, striving to gain a biblical worldview on marriage and relationships as a whole. But we're not just starting with dating advice or marriage principles. There's going to be some of that as the series progresses. But first, we need to go back to the very beginning, before the very first couple was ever created. My name is David. Our scripture reading is from Genesis 1, verse 1 to 2, and Genesis 1, verse 26 and 27.
You're welcome to follow along with the physical Bible. Search the table of contents to locate the corresponding page number for Genesis. Alternatively, you can download the Bible app or visit Bible.com. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. One of the greatest mistakes of human nature is to place our meaning and belonging on another human being. We were never designed to be the ultimate fulfillment of each other. And yet, we often expect a partner or spouse to complete us.
It starts with a dating relationship, expecting a boyfriend or girlfriend to fill whatever feels empty. We expect that their presence will remove the longing and restlessness inside of us. But when it doesn't work, we end up blaming them, or we might even blame ourselves. Instead, we should go back to the beginning, not of our own relationships, not of our own story, but the beginning of the great story in all relationships. Because the cord that holds a marriage was woven before the marriage.
God doesn't just value relationships. He is relationship as triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, eternally existing as three distinct persons in perfect unity, again, as one God. His is a love that has never been fractured, never been incomplete. And so before creation, before the first human couple, before any wedding ceremony, there was already an eternal relationship as a original threefold court. Once again, the marriage was not designed to be the great connection. It was designed to be woven into and reflected through a connection that already existed. In Genesis 1.26, we read, God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
Notice those two words that I emphasized, us and our. Before a single human being existed, there was a trinity that is God. In the creation text, there's an eternal relationship expressed in the conversation within the three in one. Now, early church theologians spent centuries working out the language for this, and the word they landed on was perichoresis, which is a Greek term used describing the mutual indwelling and interpenetration of three persons within the one divine essence, that it emphasizes the perfect unity, love, and fellowship within the Godhead. Now, again, this is a longstanding Christian doctrine, that God is not a solitary figure who decided to create relationship, but that God is, in his very nature, an eternal connection of love. Moving on to the next verse, Genesis 127, we read that God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. When we take verses 26 and 27 and put them together, we discover that God made human beings, both male and female, in his image.
reflecting the deepest reality of who he is as three-in-one, pressed into our very existence, knit into the fabric of our being, which means the image of God isn't located in the individual, but in the relationship of Trinity. And the Son, Jesus, he confirms it. In John 17, hours before he faced the cross, he prays for every person who will ever believe in him. In this prayer, we see the depth of his relationship with the Father and a beautiful description of what he's offering to us, what he desires. We read, the glory that you have given me, I have given to them.
that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me. Father, I desire that they also whom you have given may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you love me before the foundation of the world. Don't miss the deeper level of Jesus' request here, that he's inviting us into something that already exists within their eternal relationship and has forever. The invitation of the gospel is an invitation into the threefold cord of our triune God, the Father as our provider and protector, Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as our comforter and guide. If we were made in this image, then we were made to live woven into this relationship, not just aware of it in some sort of cerebral understanding, but to be anchored into it in our mind, body, and soul.
But here's the problem. Most of us come to this invitation already broken. Sin has broken our connection with God. And in our fallen state, we're separated, both in our sin nature and through our sinful choices. Both and. And it's severing the very connection we were designed for.
Sin corrupts our longing for connection into counterfeit relationships. It fractures our ability to fulfill that connection the way God intended, which ultimately severs our relationship with God and the other relationships we have. It affects everything. And sin leaves us chasing connection in the broken ways with broken motives that we see all over our lives, all over this world. But thankfully, God loved us enough to restore what was broken. At the very beginning of John's Gospel account, we read the deeper theological beginnings of the world.
He writes, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. The same God who existed in perfect relationship from eternity, who pressed his relational image into you and I at creation, he then stepped into our world.
John uses that title, the word, and originally translated from the Greek word logos to describe the eternal pre-existent son of God. This was John's way speaking into the Greco-Roman world that Jesus was present before creation. And in the creation process, he was a part of it. And then he entered the world that he had made, the divine becoming flesh out of love to save us. He then went to the cross to pay the debt for our sin. He died and was buried.
Then he rose from the grave, overcoming sin and death, so that our relationship with God, with our triune God, could be fully restored. Through faith, we are woven back into that eternal threefold cord. Through Jesus, we gain reconnection with God. And it's available. It's available now. But each one of us must receive him, making Christ our primary relationship, so that every other relationship we have...
It's intended to be a part of our firm foundation in Christ. And that's what's built on our identity, belonging, and meaning in Christ first, then other relationships. You see, when we have a right understanding of our relationship with Jesus, we have a better foundation for the relationship, the greatest relationship on earth, which is marriage. Theologian Matthew Henry states it well, that where two are closely joined in holy love and fellowship, Christ will, by his spirit, come to them. Then there is a threefold cord.
Without this understanding of a threefold cord, there's risks. First, if you're single, there's a risk of viewing your next partner as the person who will finally make you feel whole. If you're engaged, there's a risk of building your future on a faulty foundation. And if you're married, there's a risk of quietly suffocating your spouse with expectations that only God can meet and ever shouldn't. The cultural data tells us exactly what happens when a biblical foundation for marriage is removed. For example, in 1960, 72% of all adults in the United States were married. Today, that number has dropped to just 51%. In 2008, about half of Americans were married by age 27. By 2020, that median had climbed to 31. And among 40-year-olds, less than 15% of people had never been married in 2008. In 2022, that was over 30%.
As religious participation has declined, so has commitment to marriage. Sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia found that active conservative Protestants who regularly attend church are 35% less likely to divorce compared to those who have no affiliation. Now, this is just a small sampling of the research that confirms what scripture has already told us. You see, when people lose a biblical framework for relationships, the longing for connection, it isn't removed. But long-term committed covenant relationships will be increasingly broken or abandoned altogether.
And so it just proves that we all long for connection. We were created for it, made in the image of God who has existed in perfect relationship for all eternity. And so that longing was placed in us by design. It's a good thing, as long as we understand the proper order of the eternal and earthly connections. So if you're single and desire marriage, the most important thing you can do right now is to tighten your connection with Jesus while seeking a partner who is equally weaving themselves into that connection with Jesus. And if you're currently dating someone, the most important question to answer is, are they woven into Christ?
Watch how they live and watch what they prioritize. Watch how they react when life gets difficult. You can save yourself enormous heartache by answering that question and ending the relationship now before you fall deeper in love. And finally, if you're married, ask yourself, am I expecting something from my spouse that only a relationship with Jesus can provide? Because too often we place our need for meaning, belonging, value, and even identity on our spouse. And this, this is a mistake because it's a crushing weight that they were never, ever made to carry.
They will never complete you, not the way God intended. You were made to find your wholeness in God's son, Jesus, whom he gave us, who always existed, who was there at the beginning. Now, it'll take some courage, but having an honest, humble conversation with your spouse can lead to forgiveness and even a rekindling of some lost connection. That conversation has the potential for incredible healing and reconnection and a proper reordering of your marriage covenant. But then there's a final.
place. And this is if your spouse isn't yet connected to Jesus. It's hard. I want to acknowledge that this place is really hard. It's a hard journey. It's difficult, but it's not a hopeless one. Your role is to stay woven with Jesus and woven into that original cord and keeping Christ as your primary relationship and then to pray faithfully for your spouse. God has not abandoned you and he's not abandoned yourself and he's not finished working in your marriage.
So no matter where you find yourself today, single, dating, engaged, married, or maybe somewhere in between, somewhere broken, the invitation is the same, to be woven into that original cord. That's the first step. Everything else flows from there. The strongest marriages that hold through the toughest storms are found when both spouses are individually connected with the eternal strand of Jesus, woven together into a strong threefold cord. Because the cord that holds your marriage was woven before your marriage. And the absolute best thing you can do for any relationship in your life is to make sure you're connected to that cord. Let's pray. Dear Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner. I have turned away from you and looked to other people and other things to fill a void that only you can provide. I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you died on the cross to pay for my sin, that you were buried, and that you rose again.
I turn from my sin and place my faith in you. Be the cord that holds every relationship and every connection in my life. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Thank you for joining us today. If you're looking to get connected or you might have a prayer request, please visit mountainview.church slash connect or you can find us on social media at Mountain View Whitehorse. And if you found today's message helpful, consider subscribing to our YouTube channel and turning on those notifications so each week's message shows up in your feed. Now it's time for this week's updates.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kaylee, the Senior Youth Ministry Leader. I just wanted to pop on with a quick update for Fusion. We've extended our registration deadline. You now have until June 15th to get your students signed up, so if you haven't done that yet, you still have time. To secure your spot, you'll need to submit the registration form along with a $350 deposit, both which can be completed online at mountainview.church slash fusion dash Alaska. Make sure it's all in before June 15th. If you have any questions, feel free to email me at sryouth at mountainview.church. Thanks.
Moving on to this week's discussion and prayer focus, this is a great way to increase the impact of the message content. So if you're watching with someone, then this can guide your reflection and conversation. If you're watching or listening online, feel free to add a comment or a prayer request in the feed below. Now, let's start with our discussion question. How connected to Jesus is your primary relationship right now? How connected to Jesus is your primary relationship right now? And then the prayer focus for this week is to pray to make Jesus your primary relationship above all others. Pray for yourself.
Ask God, ask Jesus to be your primary relationship above all others, and then your relationships can flow from him. Then come back next week as we continue our Nodded series, diving deeper into what the Bible reveals about the marriage covenant. We'll be looking at the creation of man woven into the court. Before a man can love a woman, well, he first has to be anchored to who and what he was created for. We'll look at the role of a husband, what it means practically and theologically, and I hope to see you then.
If you prayed to receive Jesus today or would like to connect with our church community, visit mountainview.church and click the connect link. If this podcast and radio ministry has been a blessing to you, please consider partnering with us or making a tax-deductible donation at mountainview.church. Thanks for listening to Mountain View Church Audio. Join us next week for more Christ-centered teaching from the Wilderness City of Whitehorse UConn.