The Art Of Marriage, Part 2 - Lessons For Husbands Series

The Art of Marriage

Part 2 – Lessons for Husbands

Matthew 1 & 2

February 20, 2011

NOTE: THE ME/WE/GOD/YOU/WE FORMAT IS FROM ANDY STANLEY'S BOOK, "COMMUNICATING FOR A CHANGE."

Audio of this message can be heard at www.aberdeenwesleyan.org

Me: I mentioned last week that I come to this series of messages on marriage with fear and trembling.

Mainly because I know how far short I fall in many areas.

So today I’m going to preach about stuff that I’m absolutely perfect in. Then I can feel better about myself and concentrate on making you feel like a loser!

How’s that for motivation to listen up, guys?

Today I’m focusing on the guys mainly, so I’m going to ask that you ladies keep your elbows to yourself, keeping in mind that next week I’ll be addressing you with some things that you can bring into your marriage that will help it grow and flourish, much as the guys can bring.

We: I think that every married guy wants to have a great marriage, right?

I don’t think any guy looks at marriage and says, “How can I make my life and the life of my wife as miserable as possible?”

Or, “My goal in life is have a bad marriage. I wonder how many kids we can bring into it?”

I think every husband would like a better marriage, even those of us with good marriages.

The problem is that most guys think that the way to a better marriage is for their wives to get in gear and start making their husbands happier. Then everything will be better in their marriage.

But as I mentioned last week, the key isn’t that you have the right spouse, it’s being the right spouse.

And guys, that’s where it has to start. With us. The husbands – and prospective husbands.

If you’re looking at your marriage and recognize it can use some improvement – as all marriages can, then I think you’ll find some things that will both challenge and encourage you as we go through the message today.

God/You:

I want us to take a look at the life of Joseph, Jesus’ foster dad, to find some lessons for being a good husband.

All we know of Joseph comes from these two first chapters of Matthew and some brief mentions in the first three chapters of Luke.

We don’t hear anything about Joseph after the episode in Luke where Jesus is found sitting among the scholars in Jerusalem asking them questions, except in one little reference to him that I’ll show you a little later we find in the gospels.

We don’t know if he lived to be an old man, although it’s pretty certain he didn’t since he is not mentioned as being with his wife, Mary, at Jesus’ crucifixion.

We just don’t know.

But what we can know about Joseph from the Scriptures paints a very good picture of him.

Today I want to point out four things about Joseph that all of us guys can latch onto in our efforts to be the best husbands we can be.

First off…

 Joseph cared for his family’s protection.

There are three examples of when the angel told Joseph to do something, and he did it.

One of those examples was a command to get up and get his family out of harm’s way because the king was out to get baby Jesus.

Chapter 1:13-14 –

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,

Joseph could have said, “Look, Mr. Angel, Egypt is a loooooong way away. I’ve got a business to protect, I don’t have a lot of money – oh wait, one of the magi dudes brought gold – scratch that, but anyway, it would be a whole lot easier for us to stay right here in Bethlehem, don’t you think?”

“I could put them up at my Aunt Ethel’s house and they’d never find them – I know because I got lost there for 2 weeks when I was 6…”

Nope. Joseph didn’t make excuses. He did what he needed to do to protect his family.

Now I understand that in spite of what some extremists would say, the government is probably not plotting to kill your family.

So what are the things you need to protect your family from nowadays?

How about harmful things on your computer? Have you installed a filter or something that can keep you and your family from stumbling on certain types of garbage that are out there?