What's God Got To Do With It?
Notes
Transcript
Announcements:
We will be starting our new Bible study this Wednesday, September 7th at 6:30PM. Everyone is invited and please invite your friends and neighbors as we go through what forgiveness is and how do we forgive others according to the Bible.
Youth and Kidz Church will be meeting on Wednesday as well from 6:30PM-7:30PM.
Worship:
Holy Spirit Come (ready for a fresh anointing; edge of a new beginning )
I Speak Jesus (Your name is healing your name is life)
How Great is Our God (bridge and chorus) (He is great in everything and everything He has done and is doing is great)
Introduction:
This morning we will be starting a series on the family. Why? (We will be talking about what marriage is, the role of the husband and the role of the wife.)
My concern is that we have bought into a lie when it comes to the family. We have believed the culture and what it says rather than what God has said.
I have said it many times and I will say it again, our churches are only going to be as healthy as our families are. And I can’t think of a better way to talk about these topics than to go to the One who created them!
So, this morning we are going to talk about marriage. Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 2. After we read our passage this morning, I want to share a few principles in hopes to help us understand what marriage is and, as we listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, to make the necessary changes we need to make in our marriages since none of us here this morning are perfect!
15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man* to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs* and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’ ”
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.
Transition: The first principle this morning is:
Body:
I. Marriage was God’s Idea (v18, 22)
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
A. Adam didn’t think of it or invent it
No matter what others try to redefine marriage as, they didn’t invent it or create it! God did.
God created male and female in His image because it reflects who God is!
26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
27 So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
B. Each day, God said “Let there be” and “it is good” until man was by himself
1. Some of the tasks Adam could do by himself
i. Adam named the animals by himself (Gen 2:19)
ii.. Adam tended the garden by himself (Gen 2:15)
2. But there is a plan and purpose that God created us to accomplish that requires a helpmate
C. We need to think about marriage as God intended because marriage and the family are the foundations of how everything else is built (church and government)
D. We need to do it God’s way
1. Don’t talk bad about marriage: “ball & chain” or “used to have fun but now I’m married”
2. Be careful about talking bad about something God created
3. It is about one man and one woman
E. It was God’s idea before the fall, it is holy, pure and perfect and still is!
F. It is not easy but it helps us to be better godly men and women
17 Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.
G. We can thank the Lord for gravity, putting the earth on the exact axis it needs to be, putting the earth at the right distance for us to survive and know that He did it and it is good but when it comes to marriage, which is another God-ordained creation, we argue and don’t think it is right or enough or it’s changed and needs to be updated with the times. Just as gravity and everything else God created doesn’t need to be updated or changed with the times, marriage is the same and should be recognized as such!
Transition: The second principle this morning is where our spouse comes in a greater way:
II. There are two purposes of marriage that also come from God (and man can’t do on his own)
A. To procreate/have babies (be fruitful and multiply)
1. raise them in the Lord
2. to spread the name of the Lord throughout the earth
3. Again, don’t talk bad about kids! They are a blessing and an inheritance from the Lord!
a. I have learned the most about myself from my kids
3 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
B. To be a living illustration of Christ and the church (Eph 5)
31 As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”
32 This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.
1. it is not about you! (I’m unhappy so I’m walking)
2. It’s about being fruitful and illustrating the relationship of Jesus and His church!
2. contract vs covenant mentality
a. contract: to contract/make smaller; work within the lines; “as long as you meet my needs and do certain things then we are good” (against the be fruitful and multiply mandate from God!)
b. covenant: to enlarge; “I give all of me and all I have to you with no strings attached knowing that there will be shortcomings and disappointments and I will not go anywhere”
Transition: The last principle this morning is:
III. God is the one who gives us the desire for marriage
-Marriage is not for everyone and that’s ok!
Jesus said in Matthew 19:11-12 there are those who are called to be single for the work of the kingdom and also those that cannot accept the word due to immaturity; not being ready
A. Adam names the animals
1. He and she animals
2. Adam realized he didn’t have a proper companion/helpmate and he was alone
B. God gives us the desire for marriage
C. In the Hebrew, Adam is saying “Wahoo! Yeah!” (v23) (Urkle: Hubba Hubba)
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’ ”
God made Adam but He fashioned Eve
D. God desires to give us the best according to His purpose of marriage
Illustration: NFL teams drafting according to need because they have a goal they want to achieve: won football games and a championship. We don’t know what we need or our goal so we tend to just fall for anyone that comes our way and we settle.
1. A lot of times, we go and look for a spouse not knowing what we are needing and what the purpose we are called to
a. Make a list of the qualities you are looking for in a spouse
b. Know what God has called you to do and pray for a spouse to help you accomplish the call
2. The purpose of a spouse is to help us go further than we could on our own
E. The marriage relationship transcends all other relationships and when you find the person God has for you (v24)
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
1. this includes parents, friends, relatives, work relationships, etc.
2. The two skills (among the character requirements) needed to be a pastor/elder/leader in the church are:
a. to be able to teach
b. to be able to manage their household well
2 So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach.
3 He must not be a heavy drinker or be violent. He must be gentle, not quarrelsome, and not love money.
4 He must manage his own family well, having children who respect and obey him.
5 For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?
3. If you want to know who I am? What my flaws are? What my strengths are? Ask my wife and kids.
4. If I have done what I am called to do as the head of my household, I would pray that my wife and kids will be in a place that is further than I was in my walk with Christ and they are able to take off and turn this world upside down wherever the Lord places them.
Conclusion:
I pray that you will reassess your marriage this morning.
The lie of the culture is marriage is a merger, temporary, just about being satisfied and comfortable, and make sure you find the prettiest person.
The purpose of marriage is for God to use you for His glory and His honor and part of it may include Him bringing someone along side you to send you further than you could go by yourself and help you raise children to go further than you!
What is the purpose of your marriage? What goal have you set for your marriage?
My prayer for my marriage is that as a result of our marriage, Charity will have grown closer to the Lord and have accomplished what the Lord had called her to do. I also want her to not regret being married to me but love me more than the day we met. Also, that my kids know the importance of making God their priority over anything and anyone first and foremost and they would continue to seek Him in everything they do in order to accomplish what God has for them.
What standard are you using for your marriage? What are you living up to?
-The worlds standard (contract) or God’s standard (covenant)
-Is your spouse the most important relationship apart from the Lord?
For those who are not married this morning, we celebrate you as well! If you are here this morning and have been called to singleness, then I celebrate you and what is doing in and through you!
For those who are still waiting to get married, I want to encourage you to begin now and make the decision to do marriage God’s way. And, as we take the next couple of weeks talking about the role of the husband and the role of the wife, take notes and prepare yourself while praying for the person God is fashioning for you!