Sermon Tone Analysis

The Small Catechism:

You shall not commit adultery.

What does this mean?

We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.

Introduction

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Adam was out really late one night.

When he got home, Eve slammed him against the wall and began to frisk him like a police officer.

“Eve, what are you doing?” “Counting ribs!”

Next to our relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, the FAMILY is the most important creation of God.

For it is in and through the family that we receive life, it is in through the family that God cares for us and nurtures us in our physical lives, and it is in the family where we are raised, and now raise our children in the fear and the love of God.

Sociologically speaking, it is the family that is the building block of society.

Destroy the family and society falls apart.

It doesn’t take much to see that this is most certainly true today.

The sixth commandment is given by God to protect and preserve this most holy creation of His.

Of course, enter sin.

Sin destroys the family.

Sin causes people to abandon their families.

Because of sin there is the temptation to have an emotional or physical relationship with someone not our spouse.

Sin causes us to see sexuality as an end, not a means.

And in each case the family comes under serious attack.

God gives the sixth commandment to us to keep this from happening.

To God, the family is most important.

Something very simple has become very confusing and complex to the world that sees no problem with broken vows, sexual gratification with anyone we choose, with some of its poison even entering into the Church.

It is a mess in the world and the Church.

So that’s the word we’ll use for our outline today: MESS: MARRIAGE is God’s Gift; God’s EXHORTATION to holy living; Sins against this Commandment, and finally the SAVIOR who rescues us, forgives us even if we have been guilty of sins against this commandment and He sends His Holy Spirit so that we might live holy lives to God in our bodies and in our families.

Marriage

Marriage is the creation and gift from God.

In the Garden of Eden, the Scripture records thus:

:

The Scriptures refer to this gift.

In The Lord says

‎ זָכָ֥ר וּנְקֵבָ֖ה ( WTT)

The image of God is in the coming together of man and woman.

Not apart.

In this passage God shows that Eve is also a partaker of the divine image and shares with man in the rule over everything lest one thinks that her role is less than that of man.

Male and Female.

Without both in union, there is no image of God.

This unity, this coming together as one flesh, reflects the image and glory of God, and it is a creative union.

As God created Adam and Eve, so now He uses them to continue life on earth through procreation.

God has both established and sanctified marriage and has promised to bless therein all who love and trust in him and who seek to give him their faithful worship and service, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul, likewise speaks about Marriage in

Here Paul, calling husbands and wives to submit to one another, uses earthly marriage as an illustration of Christ and His relationship to His Bride, the Church.

He calls each to die to self and live for the other.

Wives honor and respect their husbands above their own needs.

Husbands give themselves up, literally die to themselves to put their wives first in everything.

This, by the way is the key to a strong marriage.

Those outside of Christ live for themselves.

Christians die to themselves, living first to Christ and then for their spouse.

Sacrifice is what it is all about.

There is something deeper here.

And that is marriage reflects a deep Christology.

The Church submits to Christ in everything.

Jesus puts the church first by dying for her,

Ephesians

Anything that would reorder marriage necessarily negates what the Lord is telling us about this.

So views of marriage outside of the Scriptural definition attack both Creation and Christology.

Theologically, these things always seem to get lost in the discussions of today, even within the Church.

Marriage is the Creation and wonderful gift of God that we have been given.

God Exhorts us to Holiness of Living

We all know people who live in various life-styles “out there”.

We are not here to talk about that today, nor are we here to judge anyone, or take up the socio/sexual issues of the day.

Bible Class is where we take up those issues so we can delve deeply into them.

Today, this text speaks to us individually.

We are not talking about the other guy or gal, or their relationship, whatever it might be.

We are here to talk about you.

God calls you to be holy and pure.

It is to you that God says these words:

God calls you to holiness.

You belong to God.

You were purchased with a price— that precious blood of Jesus, shed on Calvary’s cross for you.

We live for Him, not ourselves now.

This is why Paul reminds us “You are not your own”.

We are marked in Baptism with the Cross.

And that mark never goes away.

The Lord loves you so very much and knows the struggles we endure.

This is nothing new, of course.

Remember the Roman Empire?

It is no more, it fell, never to be heard from again because of this exact same mindset and these exact practices.

Strange that this is not taught in history classes anymore.

One has to ask why?

I’ll keep this G-Rated.

God created sexuality as a part of His gift of Marriage.

It has a strong drive in our lives.

And God gave that to us so that we might rejoice in our spouses, and He gave it so that life continues to be procreated.

Contrary to the world that takes that urge and seeks to fulfill it in many different ways, God gives to His children the fruit of the spirit of patience, and self-control.

It really is possible to be abstinent until marriage.

And it is not “unnatural” as the accusation goes.

Rather, it is holy.

You belong to God.

You were purchased with a price— that precious blood of Jesus, shed on Calvary’s cross for you.

We live for Him, not ourselves now.

This is why Paul reminds us “You are not your own”.

We are marked in Baptism with the Cross.

And that mark never goes away.

The Lord loves you so very much and knows the struggles we endure.

Sins against this Commandment

Sins against this Commandment

As much as we are the Lord’s, we stumble and fall at times in this walk called life.

Sin has corrupted God’s holy plan even for us.