Sermon Text: Genesis 2: 18-24
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.
22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Morning Message:
What I want to talk about this morning is the difference between choosing holiness and not choosing holiness. The world that we live in today tries to convince us that we do not have a choice in many aspects of our lives. There are some choices that are out of our control and made for us. We can’t choose our parents or our family; God does that for us. When we are children we don’t get to choose where we live or if we move or not; those choices are made for us by our parents. When it comes to how you will act or what you will be in the sight of God, that is not dictated to you or predetermined, you get to choose. No matter how you feel, what you are drawn to, or what the world might try to tell you is acceptable, you still have the power to choose your path in life. We are all born with sinful natures. Each and every one of us are flawed in some way, and we all have different weaknesses to sin. When sin entered into the world through one man all humankind became sinful and capable of every kind of sin. When people say that they were born this way they are partially correct. But, just because we are born into sin, that doesn’t give us an excuse to choose sin. The problems in our world today are really no different than what they have been throughout history. People choose according to their feelings and what they desire rather than choosing holiness.
I almost titled this sermon, Making Things Holy. We can choose holiness, and we can make things in our lives holy before God, but it will not happen without effort on our part, and most times it will take us making tough sacrifices of our human desires. Since we are talking about sacrifices, let’s talk about marriage. Two points that I try to drive home when doing pre-marital counseling: first and most importantly, always include God in your marriage, and second, learn how to compromise. Compromising is sacrifice. You have to be willing to sacrifice your personal way for a way that makes sense for the marriage. This scripture in Genesis is beautiful, and I try to include it in every marriage ceremony. God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, probably because if Adam knew what God was about to do he would have objected. Let’s get all of the jokes out of the way first. Why did God create man before woman? Because he didn’t want anyone telling him how he should do it, or because he needed a rough draft so that he could get it right the next time. Now pay attention to verses 23 and 24. This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. Jesus adds this in Mark 10: 8-9, “And the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” People always ask, “How can you become one flesh?” It’s a holy thing; something that only God can do in those who choose holiness.
Now I am going to give you something right out of my Dr. David Jeremiah study bible. These are his thoughts but I agree with them 100%. Marriage is one man and one woman united spiritually, emotionally, physically, publicly, and legally in a lifetime bond of loyal love. God designed marriage. There are two different kinds of marriage that we are familiar with in our society. There is one glaring difference between the two. Human marriage can be described as emotional, physical, public, and legal. The difference between just getting married and being joined together by God in a three cord bond is the spiritual aspect of marriage that only a union that includes God can be. Young couples will ask me, “How can we make sure our marriage works?” Choose holiness, include God, and don’t forget your faith. God who designed marriage can also sustain it. There are seven things that God designed marriage for.
To be a partnership between one man and one woman.
To be a permanent union.
To produce spiritual unity between husband and wife.
To provide for the procreation of children.
To positively channel sexual and emotional energy.
To serve as a principal building block of society.
To be a picture of His relationship with Israel and of Christ’s relationship with the church.
I told you last week that Jesus many times uses extremes to get our attention. This is true in the physical realm likecutting off your hand. When it comes to spiritual matters God and Jesus are very precise. God created us with free will, and he allows us to choose holiness or something less. We are not slaves to our sinful nature as some would have you believe. We can choose to be holy, but we must be strong enough to resist what is unholy. We are about to celebrate Holy Communion, I told you this before; you can choose to make this a holy experience, or you can just go through the motions. It’s your choice.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
Views: 2
