Bootcamp Family Challenge – Week 3
Move your marriage from a contract to a covenant
Icebreaker:
- Suppose your fiancee suddenly and tragically became a quadraplegic: Would you back out of the marriage gracefully? Or would you go through it faithfully? Why or why not?
- What is the most maddening thing your parents did when you were a child?
Going deeper:
- In light of this week’s sermon, what is new information, challenged, or stood out to you?
Read aloud Ephesians 5:22-33
- How does the relationship between Christ and the church help explain what Paul means by “submission”?
- How does that relationship help explain the role of the husband in marriage?
- To what expression of “headship” – Christs and the husband’s – is the wife asked to submit: The sacrificial kind? The bossy kind? Or both?
- Can a wife’s respect for her husband be commanded?
- Or must it be earned? Why?
- Likewise, children’s respect for their parents?
Discuss the difference between a contract and a covenant
- Re-read the above verse
- What emotions arise when reading this as a contract?
- What about as a covenant?
Application:
In any situation there is always something you can do. You are not stuck.
Love always has something it can do. The most powerful way to impact your relationship is through love and respect.
Therefore, the best thing you can do for your marriage (current or future) is to change your perspective from contract to covenant.
Challenge:
Use the worksheet. Try moving your marriage from a contract to a covenant for 1 week.
