Each week on Thursdays we highlight a trustworthy discipleship resource that can help you in your mission to make disciples. This week’s post is from smallgroup.com! The excerpt is from the study “Indivisible” which is based on the movie coming in October 2018. At the end of this post there is a link to sign up for a chance to win an annual subscription of smallgroup.com where you can find this study.
Indivisible Session One: Divine Purpose
The film Indivisible is the real life story of Major Darren Turner and his wife Heather. Darren shared about his and Heather’s early commitment to their agreed purpose in their own marriage: “Heather and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had called us together for one another, and His plan and purposes. Joining the military as a chaplain was a mutual decision for us. We knew that God would use us both to minister together as well as separately to reach those that had volunteered to die for us, if called upon.”
Notice that Darren clearly stated that God had first called him and Heather together for one another. But then he added their mutual decision to follow God’s specific will in their marriage and how they could serve Him both individually and together. For example, when Darren is stationed stateside on a base, as he still is active duty today, he and Heather often serve together to minister to military families. But when Darren was sent to Iraq, he ministered to the soldiers there, while Heather served the wives and children left behind at the base.
There is great satisfaction in being in God’s will in your marriage, while also discovering together a divine purpose that He offers specifically for the calling, gifts, and talents of each individual.
Even though the idea of something being “indivisible” is most often associated in our society with the United States Pledge of Allegiance, we can see from this passage that the nation’s forefathers did not create this concept, but rather God Himself, for His divine purpose of marriage. When the Pharisees were quizzing Jesus on the topic of marriage one day, He connected His teaching back to this Genesis passage.
To offer a simple analogy of being indivisible, becoming “one flesh,” or “joined together,” imagine tearing off two equal-sized pieces from a roll of duct tape. Separate, the two sections are very sticky. In fact, you have to be careful that they don’t bond to something prematurely before you apply them for their intended purpose. If you carefully connect their sticky sides, matching up corner to corner, pressing together all the way around both, you will effectively no longer have two pieces of tape—but one single unit. They have fully bonded to one another. If you try to separate them, you cannot successfully divide the two, but only destroy both for they are now truly indivisible. This is a great visual to represent God’s purpose for the “one flesh” concept in marriage.
The biblical concept of marriage as an indivisible “one flesh” includes what God does in the hearts, souls, lives, and gifts—both individually and corporately—of any couple that calls Him “Lord.” He creates an internal as well as an external oneness that doesn’t exist in the same manner outside of the two partners working together. This is indeed a spiritual mystery that only He can create.
We must recognize the life that our marriages give by being brought together for the purpose of bringing glory to the Lord. As biblical marriage comes further under attack, Christ followers should commit to placing their focus on creating oneness that can only be explained by the presence and power of Almighty God.
Pray specifically for the marriages in your group, asking God to create deeper indivisible bonds in, by, and through Him. Pray for the marriages in your church, neighborhoods, and other circles of influence to find God’s purpose.
This is an excerpt from session one of “Indivisible.” This study is based on the movie coming in October 2018. Get this study on smallgroup.com
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