We occasionally stay home on Sunday and have a church service at home. We have really been enjoying the sermons of Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.
We have been listening to the "Hope for..." series (4 messages).
Today was about Christian marriage.
The synopsis of this sermon is "The premise of Christian marriage is that two people are filled with the Holy Spirit and are committed to serving one another. Wives are to grant husbands leadership in the marriage. Husbands are to use that leadership not for their own selfish desires but to sacrificially serve their wives. The purpose
of Christian marriage is not for individual self-fulfillment,
but to work for the growth and sanctification of the spouse. Lastly, Christian marriage is not an end in itself, but a pointer to Jesus Christ, the ultimate spouse who will never let us down."
The web address to listen to this sermon is http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/hope-family"
I was greatly challenged by this sermon and plan to listen to it again as well as study the scripture passages quoted in the message.
Ephesians 5: 21 - 33
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do
to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ
is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church
and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing
her by the washing with water through the word, and to
present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed
and care for their body, just as Christ does the church-- for
we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two
will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.