DATE: – 25TH JULY, 2021
TOPIC: – GOD’S KIND OF MARRIAGE (Part 4)
BIBLE PASSAGE: – Ephesians 5: 15 – 21
MEMORY VERSE: – “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him” (Colossians 3:17).
INTRODUCTION: – Every good soup or meal has certain correct ingredients added together by a certain correct cook to make it. So also, to have a blissful and happy marriage, as God intends, which is desirable and enjoyable, there are certain correct ingredients spelt out correctly in the Word of God, which we must apply together. God designed marriage originally to be enjoyed and not to be endured. But just as soup ingredients cannot transform automatically to good soup except a good cook comes and mix them together correctly, even so cannot these Biblical principles translate to blissful home except they are correctly applied by humble marriage partners.
LESSON OUTLINES
A) Ingredients Of God’s kind Of Marriage
1) Consistent Christian Behaviour: – What you are at home is what you really are. You may pretend to be whatever outside, but your home tells clearly who you are. If you are not consistent in your relationship with God, you will not have the right spiritual view point. Great pressure does not change a person, it only brings out what he/she really is. The pressure of the intimacy homes will bring to the surface of unplanned reactions to life. These reactions will show you what you really are: selfish reactions are indications that you are not using the grace God offers. Consistency is very important (Gen.49:4).
When you are good outside, you should also first be good at home. Your children are watching you. Your life to a large extent determines whether they will give their lives to Christ or not.
2) Consistent Church Life: – The man and his wife should lead their children to worship together both at home (i.e. family Devotion daily) and the Church. It is wrong for husband and his wife to attend different Church denominations. No two Church denominations are the same in doctrinal beliefs and teachings.
Since both have become one flesh, Church denomination should not divide them. Moreover, attending different Church denominations can also be very dangerous to the spiritual life of the family. The entire family members must be grounded and rooted in the Church and this can be enhanced easily by a vibrant family devotion.
3) Consistent Christian Service:- The husband and his wife with their children should be involve in the service of God and soul winning together. When both of you are involved in the service of the Lord the way God wants it, when you are both at your duty post, you will hardly have time for quarrel with each other and hardly find fault with those you work with. What you are really doing for God and your family?
4) Consistent Family Devotion: – Family Devotion should be a daily “must” in a Christian home. No member of the family including visitors who stay overnight with the family, should be left out. Every member of the family including infants and toddlers are to participate at the family altar (Heb.10:25). The family altar must first be established in hearts of the parents because they are to provide the needed leadership in this major daily project in the life of a family. Every couple must go further from the marriage altar to establish family altar, because the care for juvenile delinquency must begin with the use of the Word of God and prayers before children are born. Though family devotion may not guarantee a problem free home, yet it will guarantee a place of refuge and sharing of family problems. It brings faith, trust, comfort and salvation (Eph.2:8). It also enhances forgiveness and unity.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
The solution to the decadence and vices today is Christian homes where the Bible is loved, read and taught, where Christ is sought. Homes crowned with beauty that love hath brought, homes free from the blight of wrong, homes that are joyous with love and song. Homes where the Lord Jesus is an Honoured Guest, where the altar fire burns and glows. May God give us Christian homes.
QUESTIONS
- What are the essential ingredients of God’s kind of marriage?