Called to Love

Pastors Joe & Shelly - 17th anniversary & love story

Partner in family and ministry

• Genesis 2:18 “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
• Mark 10:6-9 ‘God made them male and female’ from the beginning of creation. ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.” (see also Romans 8:35-39)

Marriage as a picture of Christ & the church

Ephesians 5:25-32 For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church. And we are members of his body. As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.” This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.

Strength in Unity in Christ

• The world says, "We are only as strong as our weakest link;" the Bible says, "some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary (1 Corinthians 12:22)," and that we are to "take tender care of those who are weak (1 Thessalonians 5:14)." The world says "survival of the fittest;" God says, "My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9)."
• Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
• Romans 12:4-5 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Satan's scheme - divide & conquer

• Adam & Eve, Husband & wives, Believers & Christ, Body of Christ

Marriage & the church - Whole is greater than the sum of its parts

• John 13:34-35 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
• Illustration of human body - value of elements (oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, etc. - less than $5); value of body parts - millions; value of a person - priceless

Called to Love

• As husbands and wives are called to love each other, so Christians are called to love one another and to be representative of God's love for the world.
• 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, 13 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! … Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
• Romans 13:10 Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God's law.
• 1 John 4 God is love.