결혼 비유(THE MARRIAGE METAPHOR)

💙 결혼 비유

 ✝  에베소서 4:2 - 4:13 

“ 모든 겸손과 온유로 하고 오래 참음으로 사랑 가운데 서로 용납하고 “[에베소서 4:2]

나는 메린과의 22년 결혼생활이 어떻게 가능했는지 가끔 의아할 때가 있습니다. 나는 작가이고 메린은 통계학자입니다. 나는 글로 일하고 아내는 숫자로 일을 합니다. 나는 아름다움을 원하고 아내는 기능을 원합니다. 우리는 다른 세상에서 왔습니다.
메린은 약속 시간보다 일찍 도착하고 나는 때때로 늦습니다. 나는 메뉴에서 새로운 것들을 시켜보는데 아내는 같은 것만 주문합니다. 미술관에서 20분이 지나면 나는 그제야 감상을 시작하는데 메린은 이미 아래층 카페에 내려가 내가 얼마나 더 오래 걸릴까 생각합니다. 우리는 서로에게 인내를 배울 기회를 많이 줍니다!
우리에게는 공통점도 있습니다. 유머 감각이 있고 여행을 좋아하며 같은 믿음이 있어서 기도로 일들을 결정하고 필요할 땐 절충도 합니다. 이런 공유된 기반이 있기 때문에 우리의 다른점은 오히려 유익합니다. 아내의 도움으로 나는 느긋하게 사는 법을 배웠고, 반대로 메린은 나의 도움으로 규율 있게 사는 법을 배웠습니다. 서로의 다른 점을 겪으면서 우리는 더 나은 사람이 되었습니다. 

바울이 교회를 결혼에 비유하여 설명한 데에는(에베소서 5:21-33) 그럴 만한 이유가 있습니다. 결혼과 마찬가지로 매우 다른 사람들이 함께 모이는 교회는 서로 겸손과 인내를 키우며 “사랑 가운데서 서로 용납하는”(4:2) 것을 요구합니다. 그리고 결혼에서처럼 믿음과 서로 섬김이라는 공유된 기반이 교회가 하나 되고 성숙해지는 데 도움을 줍니다(11-13절).
인간 관계에 있어서 서로의 다른점들은 큰 좌절감을 안겨줄 수 있습니다. 그러나 잘 관리만 된다면 그것들은 우리가 좀더 그리스도를 닮아가는데 도움이 될 수 있습니다.

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가까운 사람과의 다른점이 함께 성장하는 데 어떻게 도움을 주었습니까? 
교회 성도들 간의 다른점들이 경건을 키워나가는데 어떻게 도움이 될 수 있을까요?

<하나님 아버지, 우리의 다른 점들을 사용하여 우리를 성숙시켜 주소서.>

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[에베소서 4:2 - 4:13]
2. 모든 겸손과 온유로 하고 오래 참음으로 사랑 가운데서 서로 용납하고
3. 평안의 매는 줄로 성령이 하나 되게 하신 것을 힘써 지키라
4. 몸이 하나요 성령도 한 분이시니 이와 같이 너희가 부르심의 한 소망 안에서 부르심을 받았느니라
5. 주도 한 분이시요 믿음도 하나요 세례도 하나요
6. 하나님도 한 분이시니 곧 만유의 아버지시라 만유 위에 계시고 만유를 통일하시고 만유 가운데 계시도다
7. 우리 각 사람에게 그리스도의 선물의 분량대로 은혜를 주셨나니
8. 그러므로 이르기를 그가 위로 올라가실 때에 사로잡혔던 자들을 사로잡으시고 사람들에게 선물을 주셨다 하였도다
9. 올라가셨다 하였은즉 땅 아래 낮은 곳으로 내리셨던 것이 아니면 무엇이냐
10. 내리셨던 그가 곧 모든 하늘 위에 오르신 자니 이는 만물을 충만하게 하려 하심이라
11. 그가 어떤 사람은 사도로, 어떤 사람은 선지자로, 어떤 사람은 복음 전하는 자로, 어떤 사람은 목사와 교사로 삼으셨으니
12. 이는 성도를 온전하게 하여 봉사의 일을 하게 하며 그리스도의 몸을 세우려 하심이라
13. 우리가 다 하나님의 아들을 믿는 것과 아는 일에 하나가 되어 온전한 사람을 이루어 그리스도의 장성한 분량이 충만한 데까지 이르리니

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💙 THE MARRIAGE METAPHOR

 ✝  Ephesians 4:2 - 4:13 

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. [ EPHESIANS 4:2 ]

After twenty-two years together, I sometimes wonder how my marriage to Merryn works. I’m a writer; Merryn is a statistician. I work with words; she works with numbers. I want beauty; she wants function. We come from different worlds.
Merryn arrives to appointments early; I’m occasionally late. I try new things on the menu; she orders the same. After twenty minutes at an art gallery, I’m just getting started, while Merryn is already in the cafe downstairs wondering how much longer I’ll be. We give each other many opportunities to learn patience! We do have things in common—a shared sense of humor, a love of travel, and a common faith that helps us pray through options and compromise as needed. With this shared base, our differences even work to our advantage. Merryn has helped me learn to relax, while I’ve helped her grow in discipline. Working with our differences has made us better people.

Paul uses marriage as a metaphor for the church (EPHESIANS 5:21–33), and with good reason. Like marriage, church brings very different people together, requiring them to develop humility and patience and to “[bear] with one another in love” (4:2). And, as in marriage, a shared base of faith and mutual service helps a church become unified and mature (VV. 11–13).
Differences in relationships can cause great frustration. But managed well, they can help us become more Christlike.
-SHERIDAN VOYSE

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How have differences between you and those close to you helped you both to grow? 
How can differences between church members help to develop godliness?

<Heavenly Father, please use our differences to help us mature.>

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[Ephesians 4:2 - 4:13]
2. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love,
3. being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4. [There is] one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6. one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
7. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
8. Therefore it says, "WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH, HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES, AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN."
9. (Now this [expression,] "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10. He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
11. And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers,
12. for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13. until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.