Quotes from Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.

The need of our times is nothing less than the re-Christianization of our churches, according to the gospel alone, in both doctrine and culture, by Christ himself

Therefore, a loving Christian husband cares so deeply about his wife that he makes sure that her life is moving in a desirable direction, even as Christ nourishes us all.

So when a woman is married to a lovingly Christlike man who cherishes her, she feels warmth in her heart at being valued by her husband and held dear above all others, second only to Christ himself. Her husband doesn't compare her with others or find fault with her or treat her as a loser he is stuck with. That would break her heart. Instead, her husband delights in her and prizes her, and she feels it deep inside with a heartwarming glow. That is cherishing one's wife.

In his powerful essay 2 Contents, 2 Realities, Francis Schaeffer proposes four things that should mark a gospel-created church: sound doctrine, honest answers to honest questions, true spirituality, and the beauty of human relationships.

It is not as though marriage is just one theme among others in the Bible. Instead, marriage is the wraparound concept for the entire Bible, within which the other themes find their places. And if the Bible is telling a story of married

Churches don't make the gospel true. It is true even when the household of God behaves badly. But people can see that it is true, and doubters are converted when "the sweetness of the Lord" is upon us (Ps. 90:17, JB).

Authentic Christianity is not increasing levels of commitment grudgingly given to God; it is surrender to Jesus out of a sense of privilege in having him.

The confinement she feels is spreading, becoming intolerable, because in a hostile mind limitations grow to a maddening degree. Moreover, God had strongly warned, "You shall surely die." But the woman now softens it to ". . . lest you die." Now that her view of the consequences is less alarming, Satan springs on that very point:

Covenant community, the hand of God will write

But it can be extremely painful to learn the fear of the Lord. It is death to our narcissistic egos and self-assured opinions and superior neutrality. But we do not change for the better by turning inward. We change as we turn outward and upward to the Lord with an awakened sense of his sheer reality, his moral beauty, his eternal grandeur, infinitely above us but relevant to us.

The wife acting as the head, but not a wise head, and the husband acting as the helper, but not a wise helper—it was the breakdown of marriage that broke everything.

When the doctrine is clear and the culture is beautiful, that church will be powerful. But there are no shortcuts to getting there. Without the doctrine, the culture will be weak. Without the culture, the doctrine will seem pointless.

If God has drawn you to himself, then he has put you 'in Christ Jesus'.

Surprisingly, the Bible moves from cosmic majesty in Genesis 1 to a common everyday reality in Genesis 2: a young couple falling in love. So we might wonder if marriage is out of its depth here alongside the creation of the universe. Or could it be that the Bible sees in marriage more than we typically do? For now, we will put that question on hold, as we attend first to what Genesis 2:15–25 clearly teaches about marriage.

Adam's role was to assert and enjoy his sovereignty under God, cultivating the garden into an expanding paradise and protecting it from all harm.

The biblical definition of marriage [is] established in Genesis 2:24—one mortal life fully shared between one man and one woman

Becoming a Christian doesn't just add something to the old you; it creates a new you. The risen Christ indwells you now, never to leave (Rom. 8:10–11).

When a husband does not appreciate how sweetly his wife keeps looking for ways to make things work, God does see, and he does appreciate her. She is always very precious to him.

the gospel fills a husband's heart with a sense of his wife's greatness and potential, the glorious woman she is destined to become, and he learns to love her accordingly:

We get into wisdom the hard way, through the Lord's instruction and discipline, through being chastened and corrected.

Isn't it interesting how in Christmas cards and on public displays we often see the words, "Peace on earth, good will toward men"? But how seldom do we see the prior words, "Glory to God in the highest"! But there is no peace, there is no good will, unless there is glory to God in the highest first. We forget to put God's glory first. Fortunately, he does not. God will be glorified

This world has no idea what you're really worth. Around here you are, at best, useful. You fit into a market niche or a voting bloc or some other impersonal category, to be manipulated for someone's selfish agenda.

It is joyous for a church to stand together as one and say: "We don't know exactly how this is going to play out. But we're going to trust the Lord and move forward, because all that matters to us is the greater glory of Jesus in our world today.

If the church is what it should be, young people will be there. But they will not just 'be there'—they will be there with the blowing of horns and the clashing of high-sounding cymbals, and they will come dancing with flowers in their hair.