Sunday happened to be the 24th anniversary of my wife’s wedding (mine too!) We marked the occasion with a special day at church oriented around the theme of Christian marriage from three perspectives. Here is how it all came about…
A couple of months ago, a fellow from the Baptist College of Ministry contacted me about visiting our church on his honeymoon. In our correspondence, he offered to serve in any way he could in our ministry. At first, I thought to just have him relax and enjoy the fellowship with our church on his visit, but then I noticed that the Sunday he would be here would be our anniversary… and the wheels started turning in my head. What about making the day an emphasis on Christian marriage from different perspectives? And so we did.
I preached on Mk 10.6-12, the Lord’s answer to the Pharisees concerning the permanence of marriage. My title was Marriage – A Supernatural Work. I elaborated on the theme of my recent post on the subject. Working on this proposition, ‘Marriage is a supernatural work of God, creating a new union between two people that is intended to be a life-long relationship.’ I discussed God’s involvement in marriage, where God supernaturally makes two individuals one married couple, then man’s abuse of marriage, where men violate God’s creation by sinning against the union God created, and the Christian’s commitment to marriage, which, though understanding the divine perspective of marriage might cause one to fear, still proceeds in faith, committed to God’s ideal and availing of the grace of God to live out Christ’s ideal – permanent, indissoluble, supernatural union by the work of God.
My son, Rory, preached “Single Focus”, from 1 Cor 7.24-35 concerning the focus a single Christian should have towards marriage. That is, don’t be so in love with the idea of marriage that you are distracted from what ought to be your focus in life, married or unmarried, living and serving with the will of God as your priority in life.
Last, bro. Thomas Overmiller brought us a message from Gen 2.16-18, Marriage is for Ministry. First there is a ministry of wife to husband and husband to wife, and a ministry to children who may come, and a ministry to and through the local church. In other words, marriage is not about self, but about serving.
It was another great day in the Lord’s house. We had a number of visitors, including a former member who returned for this particular day having heard what the topic of the day would be. We pray that the Lord would work in hearts and continue to build his church.
Regards
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
Comments