July 11, 2004 Fighting for Marriage
July 18, 2004 The Three Pillars
July 25, 2004 Appropriate Smallness
Sunday July 11, 2004
Fighting For Marriage
Malachi 2:10-16
Genesis 2:18-25Marriage in America
· Divorce revolution has undermined marriage as a lifelong commitment
· Sexual revolution has undermined marriage as the only appropriate context for sexual relations
· The fundamental definition of marriage itself--as the union of one man and one woman--is being challengedSocial research overwhelmingly proves that families headed by married husbands and wives are happier, healthier and more prosperous than people in other types of households.
Theological Meanings of Marriage
· It reflects the nature of God
· It is a picture of God’s relationship with us
· It advances God's purpose in salvation
Universal Purposes of Marriage· Companionship
· Healthy boundaries for sexual behavior
· Procreation and child-rearing
The Impact of Same Sex MarriageFamilies
· Intimacy and emotional bonding
· Lifelong commitments
· Sexual purity
· Polygamy
Children· Stability
· Child placement
· Adoption laws
Economy· Health care
· Social Security
The intent of activists is to destroy marriage entirelyThere is much we can do!
· Work on the quality of your own marriage
· Teach your children to honor marriage
· Befriend homosexual people and lead them to Christ
· Contact Senators Kohl and Feingold about the Federal Marriage Amendment
· Read Marriage Under Fire
· Participate in the Battle For Marriage simulcast tonight
· Pray for our leadersJuly 18, 2004
The Three Pillars
I Corinthians 13:8-13
This chapter describes the crucial missing element in the church in Corinth: LoveThe spiritual gifts mean nothing if the members of Christ’s body do not display love toward one another.
Paul names three pillars which are vital to our existence as Christians faith, hope & love
The Three Pillars:
#1. Faith
Best definition is found in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
It is a confidence in the truth of God’s promises.
Faith is less a matter of emotion and more a matter of the will.
#2. Hope
The expectation of good.
As faith is primarily a matter of the will, hope is primarily a matter of the heart.
#3. Love
Of the three mentioned, the one which is eternal in nature is love.Aspects of Love to Consider:
#1. God is wholly and fully love & his nature is summed up in love.
I John 4:16 “God is love”#2. Perfect love is shared in the Trinity.
#3. God’s love toward us, his creation is perfect.
I John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.”#4. Our love toward God is imperfect
To love Jesus is to obey him.
To love Jesus is to know him.#5. Our love toward each other John 15:17 “Jesus said, ‘this is my command: Love each other.’”
#6. Our love for the lost.
John 3:16 “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”July 25, 2004
Appropriate Smallness“To maintain the illusion that you are the messiah, you must shut out any evidence to the contrary. If you want to be your own god, you have to settle for living in a tiny universe where there is room for only one person….
Appropriate Smallness
….Your world could grow infinitely bigger if you were only willing to become, in the words of a friend of mine, “appropriately small.” --John Ortberg
• What is the oldest sin? Pride
• How can we recognize pride in ourselves?
#1. Vanity – preoccupation with my appearance or image.
#2. Stubbornness
Proverbs 29:1 “One who is often reproved, yet remains stubborn, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.”
How can we recognize pride in ourselves?
#3. Exclusion
– Pride destroys the capacity to love.
– Pride moves us to judge rather than to serve.
Luke 18:9-14 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men-robbers, evildoers, adulterers-or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
What is Humility?
• Humility has to do with submitted willingness.
• It involves a healthy self-forgetfulness.
• Humility is the freedom to stop trying to be what we’re not, or pretending to be what we’re not, and accepting our “appropriate smallness.”
• Solution: A life of Servanthood.
Practicing Servanthood
#1. The ministry of the mundane.
#2. The ministry of being interrupted.
#3. Embracing our weaknesses & limitations.
Practicing Servanthood
#4. The ministry of “holding your tongue.”
#5. The ministry of “bearing.”
God’s great, holy joke about the messiah complex is this: Every human being who has ever lived has suffered from it – except one……….and he was the Messiah.