Sunday, March 29, 2009 
Scripture Reading: Genesis, 2nd Chapter
2Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— 7then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground,* and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. 11The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; 12and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 13The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.’
18 Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.’ 19So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man* there was not found a helper as his partner. 21So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23Then the man said,
‘This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called Woman,*
for out of Man * this one was taken.’
24Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.
Sermon Title: "UNCOMFORTABLE MATTERS" Sunday, March 29, 2009
PASTOR HUDSON: Our cultural credo
suggests the object of our affection is nothing more
and nothing less than a vehicle for our own
gratification, that our own personal identity and the
foundation of our marriage is based upon physical
attraction, emotional gratification and nothing else.
There is no spiritual link.
That's a faulty perception, and faulty
perceptions result in faulty lives and faulty
marriages. As Christians we need to resist
and recognize that we're called to a higher estate, not
only in terms of our own understanding of who we are
but in terms of our relationship with one another.
The faulty perception has us looking for ways to
indulge ourselves and not have to pay the price for
human self-absorption.
Scripture describes our bodies as a temple of the
Holy Spirit, yet all too often we live in a
compartmentalized world where, on the one hand, we
acknowledge we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, then
on the other hand, we're willing to settle for a life lived less
than the best.
Do not settle for less than the best. Your
identity as a human being is not wrapped up in any
kind of cultural value system that mandates your behavior
according to a
certain set of flawed values. Your identity and your
worth as a human being is not rooted in your gender,
nor is it rooted in your sexuality. You are a child
of God. You are called to higher things. You should
not settle for less than the best when it comes to a
life mate.
Here are the words Paul used. He said love one
another in exactly the same way Christ loved the
church. To love one another, that's not a romantic
issue or sexual image, that is an image of seeking the
best. It's an intentional investment in each other
which seeks to build the other up, to enhance and
enrich all dimensions of their life. Husbands and
wives should with reciprocity embrace each other to
their betterment in exactly the same way as Christ
loved the church.
One of the most horrible situations that can
possibly happen in a marriage is when one individual is
deeply invested and committed to the growth and nature
of that relationship and the other is simply along for
the ride, that is a sure-fire recipe for failure. If
you're not investing in your spouse, shame on you.
My hope and prayer is your relationships,
regardless of the situation you are in, are not
trapped in our shallow cultural message, but are
willing to embrace who we are as Christians and to
love one another as Jesus loved the church.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Amen.