In the Beginning God Created Mars and Venus Genesis 2:4-7,18-25

In the Beginning God Created Mars and Venus Genesis 2:4-7,18-25 The first question one might ask a preacher beginning a sermon series on the subjects...
Author: Junior Booker
0 downloads 2 Views 37KB Size
In the Beginning God Created Mars and Venus Genesis 2:4-7,18-25

The first question one might ask a preacher beginning a sermon series on the subjects “Love, Marriage, and Sex” is “Why?” Why enter into the forbidden zone where risky conversations about our most intimate selves are made public? Why address issues that are so personal, so fragile, and so tinged with potential for misunderstanding? Are you going to bash men like most popular sitcoms on television? Everybody loves Raymond but most people don’t consider him a role model husband or father. Are you going to tell women to be silent and submissive? That creates more problems than it solves. Why preach on the subjects of love, marriage, and sex? I offer three very simply reasons: 1. God invented all three. I am preaching this series of sermons on love, marriage, and sex because God invented all three. All three are God’s ideas. We know from the Bible that “God is love” and therefore any way we can expand and enhance love is a way to expand the influence of God in the world. And what about marriage? It didn’t take God long to create the first marriage. In fact, we encounter the first marriage in the history of earth in the second chapter of the Bible. Chapter one in the book of Genesis is about the creation of the world in 6 days. Chapter two is a fuller account of the 6th day when God created woman from the rib of man and commanded them to “become one flesh” and multiply. It was the first marriage, officiated by God, with the animals in the Garden of Eden as the witnesses and guests. Sex was also God’s idea. The very first command God gave to Adam and Eve was to have sex. Yes, that’s right. It’s in the Bible. As soon as God created man and woman in God’s image he gave them the command, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth…” (Gen 1:28). Well, we all know what that means. It means “You may kiss the bride and begin the honeymoon.” Go and make babies like Jon and Katie, plus 8. 2. Important subjects in the Bible Not only are love, marriage, and sex God’s ideas, they are also are the subject of many stories and lessons throughout the Bible. So, if we are going to be faithful readers and interpreters of the Bible, we have to know what God says about love, marriage, and sex in the Scriptures. The Law of Moses is filled with teachings about love, marriage, and sex. There are entire chapters in the law of Moses giving instructions and laying down parameters for sexual activity. One entire book of the Bible is devoted to romantic love: The Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs. The Proverbs are saturated with short sayings about love, marriage, and sex. And what about Jesus? He performed his first miracle at a wedding. The family of the bride and groom had under-budgeted for the reception – as is common !! -- and ran out of wine. Jesus came to the rescue with a no-cost miracle. The great Apostle Paul, that we recently studied in a series on his life, had plenty to say about love, marriage, and sex. We all know about his great chapter on love in Corinthians. We know less about his instructions on sexual matters in the same letter.

3. Cultural competition Besides the fact that love, marriage, and sex are God’s ideas, and besides the abundance of teachings in the Bible on these subjects, we are confronted with a more pressing cultural issue. The fact is, our culture is saturated with television shows, movies, magazines, and internet sources that provide an overwhelming source of information on these subjects. Much of this material is destructive in nature. It undermines God’s purposes and foundations for a healthy and satisfying love life, marriage, and sexual relationship. Therefore, unless the church provides an alternative voice the only thing our culture will hear is the dominant voice of Hollywood. Allow me to address briefly the nature of the sermons you will be hearing over the next 7 weeks, especially August 3. I will be talking about sexuality and parents, you may wonder whether you should bring your children. You are the only ones who can make that judgment, but know that if you do want to leave today or skip the sermons in the future, that will be OK. You use your best judgment. You do need to know that your children are already hearing about sex, talking about it, and learning things at a younger age than you did as a kid. Did you know that the top-rated show for 9-12 year olds (according to 2005 figures) was “Desperate Housewives”? The top rated television show among teenagers in 2005 contained 6.7 sex scenes on average in each program. The average household in America has the television on 8 hours and 14 minutes. That’s 57 hours a week. And how many hours are they receiving Christian instruction? One hour? Two? 15 fifteen minutes? None? If young adults are watching Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, and Desperate Housewives almost every night, where do you think they are going to be indoctrinated on the subjects of love, marriage, and sex? That’s right, Hollywood! The church cannot be silent on these issues if our culture is to know about healthy and lasting relationships. We need to get our message out. It is not primarily a negative message. It’s a positive message from God on how to have long-lasting, enriching, safe, and sexually fulfilling relationships. Why is love, marriage, and sex so difficult? Well, the next question is, “If love, marriage, and sex are God’s ideas and they are taught throughout the Bible why are they so difficult? Why is marriage so hard? Why are relationships between men and women so stressful? The statistics are telling. Depending on which poll you read, the divorce rate is between 43 and 50 percent. It is estimated by sociologists, counselors, and psychologists that of the remaining 50 percent of the people who remain married, only half of those are experiencing satisfying relationships. The other half are staying married out of obligation, duty, and fear of the unknown. 1. The Sinfulness of Humanity The major reason for all this divorce, strained relationships and destructive sexual activity is the sinfulness of humanity. In each marriage there are two sinners. In every relationship there are two people who struggle with their own selfishness, self-centeredness, pettiness, and unforgiving spirits. In love, marriage, and sex there are people who struggle and fall to temptation. The story of the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 is not so much an explanation of “Why” we sin, but an illustration of “How” we sin. We sin because we are tricked into believing that we will be better off creating our own rules than living by God’s rules. Our relationships are strained for the same reason. That is the major reason love is so elusive, relationships are so strained, unbiblical sex is so unfulfilling in the long run.

All of these strained relationships, marital disharmony, and divorce have led the younger generation to delay marriage. In Robert Wuthnow’s groundbreaking book After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty-and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religion, he cites the median age of first marriages is the highest its ever been. In 1965 the average age of a man getting married was 22 years old. Today the average age of a man entering into his first marriage is 27 years old. The respective numbers for women in 1965 and today are 20 years and 25.3 years. 1 These delayed marriages along with young people’s experience with divorced parents are leading to co-habitation. Young adults want to give marriage a trial-run before they enter into the real thing. The number of persons living together outside marriage rose by 72 percent in the 1990s.2 Today there are over 5 million people co-habitating in America. 50-60 percent of the couples who are now getting married are co-habitating first.3 It is one of the biggest moral crises facing the church today. 2. We are different The difficulty in love, marriage, and sex, however, go beyond human sinfulness. The difficulty is grounded in the mere fact that we are so different. Men and women are physically different, emotionally different, and relationally different. John Gray has written a book Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus that remained a best-seller throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. His analogy rang true to thousands of readers and seminar attendees. Men are from Mars. They speak Martian. They walk like Martians. They act like Martians. Women are from another planet called Venus. They speak Venutian, walk like Venutians, and act like Venutians. What brought them together was a telescope. The Martians were looking out the telescope and saw these beautiful creatures on another planet. They were so attracted they spent huge sums of money and great energy to build spaceships to go to Venus to express their love. The Venutians were swept off their feet by these strange creatures who came to love, cherish, and care for them. It was great for awhile, until they began to notice they spoke a different language. The Martians didn’t talk much. They thought about things and tried to solve problems. They valued achievement. The Venutians talked a lot. That’s how they nurtured relationships which was their priority back on planet Venus. The Martians thought they were showing their love by solving problems and fixing things. The Venutians thought they were being ignored and neglected when the Martians didn’t talk to them.4 Adam Hamilton, pastor of the huge Methodist congregation in the suburbs of Kansas City, took a survey among 2000 people (single and married) in his church. They were asked to list the top things the opposite sex did that frustrated them. Here are the top 10 things men do that frustrate women, according to this survey: 10. Men think they know everything and treat women as if they don’t know anything. 9. Sports! 8. Men lack creativity when buying gifts; they need to be given hints, then don’t get the hints. 7. Men never clean up after themselves. 6. Men don’t follow instructions. 5. Men are always “ready for action.” 4. Men don’t notice when things need to be done. 3. Men can never find anything, even when it’s right in front of their face. 2. Men belch and then smile as if it were a great treat for all those around them.

And do I even need to name the number one thing these women said was frustrating about men?..... 1. Men don’t listen. The Martians also had their list. Here are the top 10 things women do that frustrate men: 10. Women need to talk about everything. 9. Women think they know what you’re thinking. 8. Women think you should know what they’re thinking. 7. Women focus on the minutia and miss the big picture. 6. Shoes. 5. Women are utterly indecisive. 4. Women are terrible drivers. 3. Women say, “This sale saved us so much money,” when, had there not been a sale, they wouldn’t have spent the money. 2. Gossip, gossip, gossip. And the number one thing about women that drives men crazy: 1. Women are always trying to change men.5 John Gray’s sociological studies agreed with the survey from this one church in Middle America. He said the most frequently expressed complaint women have about men is that men don’t listen. Either a man completely ignores her when she speaks to him, or he listens for a few beats, assesses what is bothering her, and then proudly puts on his Mr. Fix-It cap and offers her a solution. He is confused that she doesn’t appreciate his gesture of love. No matter how many times she tells him, he’s not listening, he doesn’t get it. She wants empathy and he offers solutions. The most frequently expressed complaint men have about women is that women are always trying to change them. When a woman loves a man she feels responsible to assist him in growing and tries to help him improve. She forms a home-improvement committee, and he becomes her primary focus. No matter how much he resists her help, she persists— waiting for any opportunity to help him or tell him what to do. She thinks she’s nurturing him, while he feels he’s being controlled. Instead, he wants her acceptance. 6 The Biblical Story of Creation Why is this so? Why does this seem to be so universal? Well, the story of creation recorded in Genesis tells in a simple memorable way that God created man first from the dust of the ground. 1. God notices man is lonely. But after some time God noticed that man was lonely, something was missing. The Bible says, “The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen 2:18). Notice what we have here. Man has a need that a personal relationship with God will not satisfy. God must create something else for man. Now there are several directions the story could’ve gone at this point. One of those directions is revealed in the story. Immediately after God makes a public statement about the loneliness of man and declares he will make a helper for him, God parades the animals of creation before man. The man looks at the parade, names each of the animals, but doesn’t find a suitable helper. No giraffes, dogs, or chimpanzees will do. Something else, something more, something more like man is needed.

2. God does not make another man. At this point, an option would be to create another man. God could’ve made Adam II or some like figure. And we know why God didn’t do that, don’t we. If you had a world with men only, who would ever make up a bed? Every meal would be burgers and beer. Evening entertainment would be watching ESPN and belching. So God decides to create something similar but different, …. Something softer and more inclined to beauty. Something that doesn’t have to control the remote control. God makes woman. 3. God makes woman from man’s rib. And notice where Eve comes from. She could’ve been created from Adam’s foot to symbolize his dominance over her. She could’ve been taken from a portion of his brain to inaugurate a purely intellectual partner. She could’ve been created from a sexual organ to indicate she would be solely a sexually mate. Instead, God creates Eve from the rib of Adam, that protective shield around his heart, the very center of his being according to Hebrew thought. Therefore, from Adam comes Eve, a partner he is to cherish, protect, and love. She will be different, but complementary to him sexually, intellectually, and emotionally. Where he is more thinking, she will be more feeling. Where he is more aggressive, she will be more receptive. Where he communicates through actions, she will communicate more with words and touching. The key point is that man and woman have been created differently and were intended to be different. Since this is from God we know it to be a gift. We don’t always know how to appreciate the gift or sometimes even unwrap the gift. But our differences are a gift from God. Practical Truth #1: We Need Each Other The giftedness of Eve to Adam is also the giftedness of Adam to Eve. Each one needs the other. Men and women need one another. They need one another to procreate, to obey the command of God to “be fruitful and multiply.” They have been created anatomically complementary to one another. There is an appropriateness about the way we are made. Men and women also need one another in relational ways. We need the perspectives and talents of the other gender. This doesn’t mean that everyone needs to be married. In fact, Paul talks about a higher calling of remaining single and celibate in order to devote one’s whole life to the gospel ministry. Yet, even single men need relationships and friendships with women, and likewise single women need relationships and friendships with men. Relationships don’t have to be sexual to meet needs. The giftedness of men and women is one reason we value men and women in positions of leadership in this church. There are perspectives that both men and women bring to church leadership that we would miss if we were a led exclusively by one gender. Our differences are gifts from God. We are diminished when we don’t use these gifts. Practical Truth #2: Marriage is a solution to a problem A second practical truth about this gift of differences is that it becomes a solution to a problem. The problem was loneliness. Adam was lonely. No other animal would be a suitable partner. The creation of Adam II would not be a solution. There needed to be something similar and different. That similar, different being was Eve. Marriage then is a solution to a problem, the problem of loneliness, the problem of needing companionship, the problem of seeing and experiencing the world from a broader perspective. Again, this is not

to say that all people should be married. It simply is conveying the biblical truth that marriage became a solution that God created to solve the problem of Adam’s loneliness. Conclusion If you are married, you probably had a ceremony where you exchanged vows of commitment for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health. Sometimes the worse is worse than you thought it was going to be. The bills are higher than you know how to handle. The sickness requires more from you than you ever imagined. Like many couples, you may have fallen out of love. Most people who have been married longer than a year know what’s it’s like to fall out of love. Like Mark Twain, you’ve looked at the mighty Mississippi for so long, it’s lost its mystery. Sometimes you may wish you weren’t married. And yet, you’ve made a commitment to this person and to God. You have a calling, a sacred calling to forge ahead in the good and bad times, believing in the long run, it will be the right thing, the fulfilling thing to hang in there. One way to move toward greater fulfillment is to recognize the differences between you and your spouse. Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Both bring their own planetary ways of loving to the marriage, which have to be learned and accepted. You’re not going to make a Martian into a Venutian and you’re not going to make a Venutian a Martian. But you can try to learn their language and appreciate them for who they are, and love them in a way they just might understand. It’s a great challenge with great reward. Men may be from Mars and women from Venus, but God has brought you together on earth to celebrate the beauty and mystery of your differences. Notes 1

Robert Wuthnow, After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty-Somethings Are Shaping the Fture of American Religion (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007), pp. 21-24. 2

Adam Hamilton, Making Love Last a Lifetime (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2004), p.

15. 3

Karen S. Peterson, "Cohabiting is Not the Same as Commitment," USA TODAY online (July 8, 2002). 4

This is a summation of Gray’s argument in John Gray, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (New York: HarperCollins, 1992). 5

These numbers are derived primarily from the survey done by over 2000 single and married people at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas and recorded in Hamilton, Making Love Last a Lifetime, pp. 15-17.

6

This is a summation of Gray’s second chapter “Mr. Fix-it and The Home Improvement Committee” found in Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, pp 15-28.

Suggest Documents