Introduction
Today is Valentine’s Day. The day that we celebrate love and romance. People send cards and gifts to their friends and lovers. Like many of our holidays, Valentine’s Day has its roots in a pagan holiday that was Christianized. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius I wanted to get rid of the pagan festival, Lupercalia, celebrated February 13-15. It was a pastoral festival to avert evil spirits, purify the city releasing health and fertility. It was supposed to ensure fertility, prevent sterility in women, and ease the pains of childbirth. Gelasius was finally successful in suppressing this festival and replaced it with Saint Valentine’s Day. There were several martyrs named Valentine and this day was set aside to honor them. At first this day was not associated with love and romance, but through the years it has come to be a day to do romantic things for your lover.
God is the creator of love and romance. God is love, I John 4:16. This is agape love in this verse. This love is not just a feeling, but also a choice. God is the creator of every kind of love. He is the creator of friendship love. The love brothers and sisters feel for one another. He is the creator of the love romantic and erotic love. This love is powerful. Arthur Aron, a social psychologist at Stony Brook University in New York, has done brain scans on people newly in love and found that after that first magical meeting or perfect first date, a complex system in the brain is activated that is essentially "the same thing that happens when a person takes cocaine." (Jessica Pauline Ogilvie, Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2010 http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-love8-2010feb08,0,5799369.story)
One whole book of the bible is devoted to this love, the Song of Solomon.
This morning we want to look at the couple that God created and gave to one another, the first two people to feel and display their love for one another.
Proposition: What can we learn from Adam and Eve?
I. Sex was God’s idea not man’s
A. Genesis 1:26-28
B. There is only one way to be fruitful and multiply. A sexual relationship is how we multiply.
C. I Corinthians 7:1-5 and 9
D. Man’s sin in the garden was not having sex.
E. Sex is not just for the purpose of procreation.
1. Proverbs 5:15-23, be drunk or intoxicated with her love not wine
2. Kiss her, Song of Solomon 1:2, 13, 2:14
3. Take time for romance, Song of Solomon 4:9-10, 5:3-4, and 8:1-3
II. God intended for the marriage to be one man and one woman for life.
A. One man and one wife ensure fertility and prevent sterility. The festival of Lupercalia will do nothing for fertility or sterility.
1. Many problems with infertility are from STD’s. They also cause a woman to not be able to carry the baby to full term.
2. Cervical cancer is caused from HPV. HPV is an STD. It also contributes to infertility.
3. There is a vaccine now called Gardisil for HPV. Doctors want vaccinate girls as young as nine years old. Because the vaccine has to be given before they contract HPV for it to be effective.
4. One man and one woman for life prevent all this and ensure fertility.
5. Exodus 23:25-26
B. Divorce is not an option
1. Matthew 19:1-10
2. Mark 10:1-12
3. I Corinthians 7:10-16
C. A wife is a helper
1. Genesis 2:20-25
2. She is not a slave, not a servant, not a leader. She is a helper to her husband
3. A man needs help. It is not good for a man to be alone.
4. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Two are better than one.
5. A good woman does a lot for a man. She gives him confidence. Helps him remember appointments.
6. She makes a house a home
7. She was taken from his side. She is his equal. A completer to him. It has been said that if she had come from his head she would have been his ruler – that if she had come from his feet she would have been his slave, but she came from his side, therefore she is his partner or companion for life.
8. Treat her like she is your most prized possession, Proverbs 31:10-11. Solomon was the richest man who ever lived. He made silver as common as stones, I Kings 10:21-27. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines, but he couldn’t find one good one among all he had, Ecclesiastes 7:26-28. Solomon looked in all the wrong places for a wife, I Kings 11:1-3.
9. Your wife is a part of you. Eve was taken from Adam. The two become one flesh. We are to treat our wife like we treat our own body.
a. We take care of our body. We don’t hate our body. If I poke a stick in your eye, what are you going to do? You are going to take measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again and you are going to rub your eye.
b. If you burn your finger you take care of your finger. If you are cold you put on a coat. You like to sleep in a comfortable bed. If you would like something done for you do it for your wife. If you don’t like it don’t do it to your wife.
10. Don’t run home to your mom and dad when you have problems (verse 24). Parents are usually biased to their child. They generally don’t make good marriage counselors. Don’t complain about your spouse to your parents. Leave your mother and father. Don’t live with them unless you have to.
11. God made man and he knows what he likes. God’s first gift to Adam was Eve in her naked beauty, (verse 25). Adam saw all the other animals naked, but he had never seen anything like Eve. Pornography takes what God has made and perverts it. The only naked woman you ever see should be your wife. No other naked women belong in your mind.
D. The man is the leader
1. Genesis 3:16
2. I Timothy 2:11-15
3. Ephesians 5:21-24
4. I Corinthians 11:3, This does not mean she is inferior. Jesus is God’s equal. Woman is man’s equal. Jesus subjects himself willingly to God. The woman is to subject herself willingly to the man. She cannot be forced to obey. Don’t tell her, “You obey me.” You must win her subjection. Jesus forces no man to be in subjection to Him. Life is much better when in subjection to Him. Life will be much better when you are in subjection to your husband.
5. You dishonor the word of God when you are not in subjection to your husband.
6. Titus 2:3-5
7. Ephesians 5:25-33, The man is to love his wife while leading.
8. Speak kind words to her, Ephesians 4:29-32 and Proverbs 25:11
E. Adam let his wife lead like many men do.
1. Genesis 3:17
2. It is your God given responsibility to lead your wife and children
3. Ephesians 6:1
III. Don’t blame God or your wife for your sin like Adam did.
A. Genesis 3:10-13, Adam blamed Eve and God. Eve blamed the serpent. God put the blame where it belonged. He gave each of them a curse.
B. We may try to blame everyone else, but God will not accept our argument. He will discipline those who cause us to stumble, but he also will punish us for not avoiding the stumbling block.
C. Your Valentine won’t be happy if you are always blaming them for your mistakes.
Conclusion
God is the originator of love. Even the love we celebrate on Valentine’s Day. He designed the hormones that give you all those funny feelings when you are in love. Falling in love causes a surge of dopamine in your brain. After the release of dopamine, oxytocin and vasopressin are released encouraging you to form emotional bonds. God intended for love between a man and a woman to last a lifetime.
Sometimes people’s love grows cold. If your love has grown cold, remember your first love. Remember when you fell in love and do the deeds you did at first. Look into one another’s eyes. Make time for one another.
You don’t have to wait for Valentine’s Day to show your love for those you love.
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