When Lynn and I got married we asked for a full sermon to be preached. Our pastor at the time, Leigh Robinson preached a four point sermon on the purpose of marriage. Marriage is for partnership, marriage is for procreation, marriage is for pleasure, and marriage is for perfection. One of the main goals of marriage is holiness. This is a distinct perspective that Christianity brings to the issue of marriage. For many marriage is about not burning, or not being lonely, or having kids, these are true but a major part of marriage is God’s purpose to make us holy. Paul has been describing how a husband should love his wife as Christ does the church. But in typical fashion Paul can’t allude to Christ without extrapolation, his heart is full of the wonder of what Christ has done for us. He not only talks about Jesus sacrificial love in v25, but goes on to describe a love that keeps on giving, not only to save but to sanctify and ultimately glorify His bride, v26-27, ‘that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.’ So today as we continue our series on marriage we have two things to do, we need to stand amazed with Paul at the work of Christ for the church, and then we need to apply this so how husbands should love their wives.

‘If Jesus is the King, why doesn’t it feel like He is reigning?’ This discouragement is what many people feel. ‘If Jesus is Lord why is my church so small and struggling so much and all the young people leaving?’ ‘If Jesus is Lord why is sin still so strong in my life and my holiness so weak?’ ‘If Jesus is Lord why is the government allowed to reverse things God has put in nature and make laws that contradict God’s laws?’ Understanding the nature of Christ’s reign, the way in which the kingdom manifests itself, is a problem in all ages. It was also a problem for the Jews when Jesus, their King, came to Israel. The Jews would only accept that Jesus was king if certain expectations were met. In their minds the Messiah and certain things always went together. If the Messiah comes that would mean judgement on all of the enemies of the Jews, especially any who had taken military action against them, like the Greeks and the Romans who had invaded the Holy land. To their minds the coming of the Messiah would bring about a time of world peace and world domination where Israel would be the ruling power over all. The Messiah would bring in a time of prosperity and the nations would bring their riches to Jerusalem, the capital of the new age. John the Baptist arrives on the scene getting everyone excited about the King who is about to come and fulfil all their expectations, saying the kingdom is nigh. Jesus arrives telling everyone that the Kingdom is here but all He does is forgive sins, welcome sinners into God’s people, heal those who in the eyes of the religious Jews had brought cursing upon their heads because of their sins....

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Why do we love? One physicist gives us the evolutionary perspective, ‘Biologically, love is a powerful neurological condition like hunger or thirst, only more permanent. We talk about love being blind or unconditional, in the sense that we have no control over it. But then, that is not so surprising since love is basically chemistry. While lust is a temporary passionate sexual desire involving the increased release of chemicals such as testosterone and oestrogen, in true love, or attachment and bonding, the brain can release a whole set of chemicals: pheromones, dopamine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and vasopressin. However, from an evolutionary perspective, love can be viewed as a survival tool – a mechanism we have evolved to promote long-term relationships, mutual defence and parental support of children and to promote feelings of safety and security.’ Evolution teaches us that love is not essential to our humanity but an evolved necessity for survival; Christianity teaches that love, and especially marital love is part of our make up because we are made in God’s image, and God is love, and we are made for marriage. ‘What is love?’ was the most google searched phrase in 2012 and reveals to us that our generation is ignorant to what love is. The rising divorce rate is another testimony to the universal inability of this generation to define love. The definition of love that most people have is totally ignorant. Today, because of the media driven romance culture we live in love is perceived as an emotion but not also as commitment. Real love does not sell movie tickets and keep audiences rooted to their seats and coming back for more. No one would go to a movie about a 60 year marriage as the many boring routines, unemotional interactions, regular small sacrifices, and the...

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The gospels are filled with paradoxical contrasts. We see sinners forgiven and the righteous condemned. The poor have blessing but the rich have woe. Those who mourn will be happy and those who are happy will be sad. Jesus comes and blows our categories out of the water, those people who we thought were good are bad, those who we thought were alive are dead, those who we thought are hated are loved. When it comes to who is a good person, who is the person who is accepted by God Jesus turns our categories on their heads, the first shall be last and the last first. It is often the case in the gospels that we see a clear contrast between two types of people. At first we think that we know who the good guy and who the bad guy is, but Jesus subverts our understanding of things with the truth. Think of John 3 and 4. There we have side by side the two extremes of the social spectrum. In John 3 we have Nicodemus, in 4 the woman at the well. He is a Jew; she is a Samaritan. He is a leader in society, a Rabbi; she is a social outcast. He is religious and moral; she is a lifestyle sinner. In these chapters we see that she is converted as Jesus speaks the truth to her in love; but Nicodemus leaves confused, though he does convert later. There are many surprises as Jesus breaks social conventions to minister to her, and go with her into her village, and as she finds salvation but a religious leader does not. Another famous example is when Jesus is invited to eat at Simon the Pharisee’s house, John 7:36-50. Jesus is feasting with the religious leaders and an...

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When the Bible wants to demonstrate the roles of men and women it does not begin with culture but with creation. The NT regularly references Adam and Eve when it explains the roles of men and women in the home and church, 1 Cor. 11:2-16; 1 Tim. 2:11-15. One of the things that Paul wants to prove by this is the fact that men are to be the head and women the helper. Paul uses phrases like, man was made first, or woman was made for the man. So let’s reflect on the Garden when God created men and women as we begin to establish how the creation account establishes the differences between men and women and in particular that men are to be the head. Gen. 1 begins by giving us some general truths about men and women. That they are both made in God’s image; that they are both over creation; that they are both called to be fruitful and have dominion. Gen. 2:4-25 gives us those details which speak more about their complementarity. There is an asymmetry in their creation which Paul will draw on which highlights the differences between men and women. Adam is created outside the garden; Eve is created inside the garden. Adam is put over the garden; Eve is put under Adam within it. Man is made from the earth and is given the task of tending and keeping it; Eve is made from man and this reflects her main function of filling the earth. A man’s biology by his muscles and strength reflect the physical task that he is called to; the woman by her reproductive ability reflects her calling. Adam was made before Eve, a point Paul highlights, this is not a childish principle of ‘I had it first’ but rather...

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We come now to what is probably the most important portion in the Bible on people suffering and our response to it. We are all familiar with the classic problem, something bad happens and the questions begin to flow, why did a loving God allow this? Why did the innocent suffer with the guilty? Was it God; or satan; or man; or nature that caused this? This is a very large intellectual problem. The dilemma of a good God and evil existing has a long history. Epicurus a Greek philosopher born in in Greece in 341 BC put the problem this way: ‘God either wishes to take away evils, and is unable; or he is unable and unwilling; or he is neither willing nor able, or he is both willing and able.’ This leads to what he thinks are the only four possibilities: ‘if God is willing and unable, he is feeble.’ ‘If he is able but unwilling, he is wicked.’ ‘If he is neither willing nor able, he is not God.’ ‘If he is willing and able, then this leaves the problem of why evil still exists, why has he not removed it?’ This has led many an atheist to set up the traditional false dilemma, that either God is good and not powerful, or powerful and not good, and since the Bible teaches that God is good and powerful, they then in light of the presence of evil that the God of the Bible does not exist. Some of the greatest philosophical minds have felt that this is an irrefutable case against Christianity. The Biblical response to this is very simple, the good and Holy God of the Bible has a morally sufficient reason to allow evil. Simply because we cannot imagine what that purpose would be, does...

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The war of the sexes goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. In Genesis chapter 3 we see the fall of man in sin. We see the first sins of the first husband and wife. Adam tolerated the serpent questioning God, and passively allowed the serpent to mislead his wife failing to defend her. Eve presumptuously taught the serpent taking the lead not deferring to her husband’s authority. Adam failed to lead, teach, defend and punish. Eve failed to get permission, clarification and help. Both wanted to be like God; both questioned God and both abandoned their God given roles. After they sinned they both felt guilt and shame and attempted to cover their nakedness. They sensed the vulnerability and threat where once they had security in one another. They felt alienated from each other and defensive towards the other and no longer felt safe. Both hid from God as they hid from each other. God came looking for the man of the house 3:9 and then confronted and cursed them for their sins. There are so many things in these curses that we have to overlook but let me draw your attention to one verse that foretells the war of the sexes for all of history. 3:16, ‘To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”’ There we see God prophesying the conflict sin will introduce into marriage, the wife will ‘desire’ her husband. To understand the word desire you need to turn to Gen. 4:7 where sin is described, ‘If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door....

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Familiar words from Isaiah 9:6-7: ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.’ We read these words often at Christmas time, the title Prince of Peace stands out to us as a great need in the world given the many wars that have happened in human history. The OT promised a son of David who would come and bring about world peace. This peace would be accomplished through the conquering of Israel’s enemies. So imagine what the expectation was around the coming Messiah in the first century when Jesus, that promised Messiah arrived. They imagined that the Messiah would come with a sword against Rome not Jerusalem. They imagined that He would be united with them in their view of who the real enemy is, the Gentile and not their own sinful hearts. They thought they knew what it meant that the Messiah was the Prince of Peace but they did not. In Luke 12:49-59 we have some very surprising statements from the Prince of Peace. These words come in a section where Jesus is warning the present generation of Jews, the most privileged generation to have ever lived, that they must respond positively to the Messiah. Just have a glance down at 13:1-5 with the warnings to repent or perish, in v28-29 the Jews are warned that they will be...

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What is marriage? One mother says, ‘marriage is just a fancy word for adopting an overgrown male child who cannot be handled by his parents anymore.’ But speaking more seriously, modern views of marriage are descriptive not prescriptive. Here are some suggested definitions, ‘A more or less durable connection between a male and a female lasting beyond the mere act of propagation till after the birth of the offspring.’ Or including polygamy, ‘a relation of one or more men to one or more women that is recognized by law.’ Or more legal definitions, marriage exists to establish a legal mother or father for a child. To give monopoly of one’s sexuality to one’s spouse. To give monopolistic or partial rights to domestic labour or services. To give your spouse total or partial control over property belonging to the other. To establish a fund of property for the benefit of the children. It is merely a tradition handed down from our parents, is it an unquestioned relic that is irrelevant to modern life, it is primarily legal in character, is it man centred and should be arranged according to the purpose of serving man’s happiness, is it a relative social convention that has no rules? Marriage is being challenged and is deeply misunderstood even by Christians so we have to clarify our definition of marriage and the nature of it before we can commit to making our marriages work. Let me give a biblically informed definition: Marriage is a God-wrought, universal, life-long, exclusive covenant between one natural man and one natural woman; a consenting; mutually beneficial partnership with distinct roles and responsibilities for men and women; that exists for the purpose of companionship, procreation, mission, holiness and imaging God’s redemptive grace. Let’s unpack that just a little.

We come now to a section which deals with the second coming of Christ. We are in that part of the gospel where Jesus is training His disciples; He has warned them about persecutions; He has warned them about the trap of riches; He has outlined God’s care so that we can live holding loosely to the things of this life, but Jesus also prepares His disciples for His departure. The disciples were not envisaging a coming of the Messiah that involved the Messiah coming and dying and then going to heaven while the gospel went out to all nations, no they thought things would progress to the point that Jesus would raise an army and sit enthroned in Jerusalem. Jesus equips His disciples to seek His kingdom while He is gone; this involves being ready for His return, and being faithful while He is gone. As we move through this section these will be our two headings, we will look at v35-40 under be ready, and 41-48 under be faithful.