Text: Ephesians 5 : 22 – 33
Theme: Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t he strong and handsome
Introduction
- [Read and explain the text]
- [Speak of concern for marriages]
- This morning, we are going to do something that is different, but something that is long overdue
- I want all married couples to sit together [e]
- This morning, we are going to minister to all married couples [e]
- To those who are not yet married, or if your spouse has gone to be with Christ, sit back and enjoy some fun this morning [e]
- We are going to be very interactive
1. It’s time to shake things up…..and down
- I want all couples to now stand up and hold both hands
- [Play chorus of song 1: Shake you down by Gregory Abbot]
- You may sit down…
- Genesis 2: 18, 21 – 24 says, “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’
- “So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man He made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife.”
- The first thing that we must remind ourselves this morning is that GOD ORDAINED MARRIAGE. [e]
- Your marriage is of God [e]
- And if it of God, it is a holy union [e]
- And if it is a holy union, then we must treat each other as God would want us to [e]
- The second thing we must remind ourselves this morning is that God was deliberate when He created woman:
- He did take a bone from Adam’s foot….this would have signified that she would be beneath him [e]
- That he could trample her down all the time [e]
- Men you cannot put your wives down all the time [e]
- God did not design them to be trampled and abused [e]
- God also did not take a bone from Adam’s head….this would have signified that she would have been above him [e]
- Ladies, you cannot look down on your husbands [e]
- You cannot rule over him [e]
- God did not designed man to be ruled over by his wife [e]
- But God took a bone from Adam’s side….this signified that they were to accompany each other in life [e]
- God designed that they compliment each other (compliment in terms of them completing each other)
- Husband and wife were designed by God to be one [e]
- As we examine marriages today, we can agree with the song writer, Gregory Abbot…..it time to shake some things down and time to shake some things down [e]
- We need to shake out the cobwebs that have grown over our marriages [e]
- We need to shake out the apathy about each other [e]
- We need to shake out all fighting and shouting and insulting [e]
- We need to shake out that spirit that causes us to put each other down all the time [e]
- We rather need to shake up the tree of love again and see what fruits may fall off [e]
- We need to shake up the love again [e]
- If you need to go dig in your closet and look for those old cassettes and records and a-tracks and put on that old music to bring back those old feelings, then go do that [e]
2. It’s all about that…..
- We live in a world driven by the media [e]
- The media (TV, magazines, movies, social networks, the internet) has entered our lives in a big way and has also dictated the way we should look. [e]
- Men, we are told that all women, including our wives, must look like super models and dress like movie stars [e]
- Ladies, we are told that all men, including our husbands, must look like a cross between Brad Pitt and Shar Ruhk Khan and have muscles like The Rock and dress like George Clooney [e]
- Since we are using some songs in our sermon today….we would like to sing “All of me..loves all of you” [e]
- Love goes beyond looks [e]
- Love goes beyond worldly class and sophistication [e]
- Love goes beyond dressing and clothes [e]
- Love actually finds itself in Christ, because He loved so much that He gave Himself for us [e]
- My prayer for each husband and wife here (and those that would read this sermon) is that you would rediscover that first love, if you have lost it [e]
- But just in case, ladies, you would for just one last time like to see you husband how he looked 20 years ago when he had hair, we are going to do a little experiment just for you…..
- [Call 5 men with daughters who have long hair. Let the men sit and have their daughters drape their hair over their dads’ heads]
3. Can we find our way back?
- The reality of many marriages today, and indeed, some of you may be thinking the same, is that they have allowed things to get too bad [e]
- As we examine many marriages one may say that that many of them are too far gone for redemption [e]
- Some homes, families and marriages have become breeding grounds for contempt, hatred, discontent and dislike [e]
- Some husbands and wives cannot stand each other [e]
- Some married couples cannot sit and have a normal conversation with each other [e]
- Some marriages have lost all intimacy [e]
- I know of one or two that don’t even remember and acknowledge their anniversaries [e]
- Some married couples actually do things and go places apart from each other [e]
- In some homes, physical and verbal abuse of each other has become common [e]
- In some relationships, there has been unfaithfulness and infidelity [e]
- In the light of all this, we ask ourselves the question: Can we ever find our way back to love ? [e]
- Can we ever find our way back to happy, healthy homes? [e]
- And my answer to that is: If we want to find our way back, we need to call in The Navigator….Jesus [e]
- You see, if we leave this place without asking Jesus to intervene in our marriage and guide us, we will never find our way back [e]
Conclusion
- So if your marriage is on a dark, desert highway like Hotel California [e]
- Or if you have lost the Captain of your Heart, even though he is still at home [e]
- Of if you have given up hope and nothing really matters [e]
- Or if you feel that your love is like bad medicine [e]
- Or if every time you see each other you say who let the dogs out? [e]
- Then its time to commit your relationship and your marriage to God [e]
- Then it’s time to ask God to bring back and restore love, trust, gentleness, romance and goodness [e]
- How do I do this pastor, you may ask?
- [Triangle illustration: the 2 at the bottom represent the married couple and the apex at the top represents God….the 2 at the bottom get to God, the apex, the closer you get to each other]
- You see when God steps into your marriage
- And when you allow him to lead you in your relationship
- Your marriage becomes a blessed marriage [e]
- Your union becomes a Godly union [e]
- Your relationship becomes one of bliss and happiness [e]
- And then your songs start to change:
- Then your marriage becomes solid….solid as a rock!
- And you start saying I wanna wake up with you, I want you be there when I open my eyes, I want you to be the first thing that I see…I wanna wake up with you!
- And you start saying love me tender, love me true…all my dreams come true
- And men start telling their wives I wanna be you lover…lover boy
- And start telling their friends Ain’t she sweet….
- And ladies start telling their husbands man, I feel like a woman!
- And the kids will become a bit irritated, because almost every night there will be night fever, night fever….
- I want all married couples to leave their seats and come to the front
- [pray for marriages]
