Do You Need A Spiritual Marriage Counselor?

Scripture: Revelation 2:1-7; Matthew 22:36-40

Theme: First Love

Sermon: Do You Need A Spiritual Marriage Counselor?

INTRO:

Grace and peace this morning from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

I hope you are enjoying your walk with the LORD this morning. I also hope you are relishing your time in God’s Word; studying and meditating on various Bible passages. And I trust you are growing from your quiet time with the LORD as you mature more and more in faith.

Like the Apostle Paul as he prayed for his different churches it is my prayer that “your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and in understanding” (Philippians 1:9)

This past week I believe that I received a wonderful revelation from the Holy Spirit. It is a rather interesting revelation. As I was working on the passages for this Sunday it occurred to me that two of the responsibilities and privileges of all Christians are

1. To be a Match Maker between the LORD and human beings (people)

2. To do the Work of Being a Spiritual Marriage Enrichment Counselor

I. Being a Match Maker

As we look at what John shares with us in Revelation 2:1-7, we see that the messenger of the Church of Ephesus is doing their best to be a Match Maker. That is to say, that they are doing their best to get as many people in Ephesus matched up with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. They want people to experience what it means to be relationship with the LORD; to be Born Again and filled with God’s Holy Spirit.

Now, in our world there is a great deal of talk and discussion on how to we can experience the best love life. In saying that, we understand that the ultimate human love life is to be one experienced between a male and female in the covenant of marriage.

What the pastor (messenger) in Ephesus is trying to do is to help people understand that there is a love experience that is able to supersede the love experience that can happen in a human to human marriage. That love experience being the love relationship that can exist between God and a human being that involves a rescue, redemption and a restoration.

+That love experience begins when a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and LORD and has their entire being transformed from the inside out through the power and presence of His Holy Spirit.

+That love experience transforms a person from being a sinner eternally bound for the pit of Hell to a person who the Bible calls “a citizen of Heaven” and is bound for everlasting life on the New Heaven and New Earth.

+That love experience continues as God’s Holy Spirit becomes One with a person. The Bible tells us that the Oneness with the LORD supersedes the Oneness that can happen between two human beings.

Now, that may be difficult to understand or even to believe.

But the fact remains that while two people can truly love one another their love can never match the love that the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY has for us this morning. We have a limited capacity to love. But the LORD has an unlimited capacity to love.

We human beings do our best to love one another, understand one another and be there for one another. But the fact remains we can never love as deeply as the LORD loves, we can never understand as deeply as the LORD understands and we can never be there for one another as much as the LORD can be there for us.

The greatest love experience we can have this morning is with the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. That is why the relationship that Jesus says that He has with us – His Church, is best symbolized as the relationship that exists between a Groom and a Bride. And that is why in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament the covenant of marriage is the symbol used most to describe the relationship between God and His People.

Isaiah 54:5 New International Version (NIV)

5 For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name—

the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.

Jeremiah 3:12-14 New International Version (NIV)

12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

“‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord,

‘I will frown on you no longer,

for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord,

‘I will not be angry forever.

13 Only acknowledge your guilt—

you have rebelled against the Lord your God,

you have scattered your favors to foreign gods

under every spreading tree,

and have not obeyed me,’”

declares the Lord.

14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.