Introduction
What a beautiful, sunny week we had! Everything seems better when the sun is shining. And here in Washington it doesn't even have to be warm! The temperature hits just above 50 and shirts are coming off, bright white legs reflect the sun in all their splendor, and sunglasses are placed on the top of heads. Almost everything is just right. There is one thing, though, that sunny days bring to mind that is very unpleasant: gardening! There is this unwritten homeowners law that states that thou shalt weed your yard when the sun appeareth lest you be damned. Pulling weeds is not a pleasant activity, but you cannot have a healthy garden without doing so.
Why are we talking about pulling weeds this morning? Because the transformation topic for this morning is marriage and we will learn that our marriages will be transformed when we make growth and change our daily agenda. Growth and change can be well illustrated with the gardening practices of pulling weed and planting seeds. A healthy church is a church that values marriage and whose members' marriages are growing in Christ. As we think of 2016 as a year of transformation, let us transform our marriages by the grace of God.
Let me say two things before you dive into this topic. First, If you are not married and don't plan to ever get married, don't stop listening just yet. What I am going to say this morning applies to every relationship. In addition, you may be called to help someone else who is married. So, listen up. Second, everything I am going to say today is coming from Paul Tripp's book What Did You Expect? Redeeming the Realities of Marriage.
I. Marriage and Gardening
A. Does your neighborhood have that one house filled with gorgeous flowers of a wide variety of colors and kind?
B. Why is it that we don't expect our gardens to just grow by themselves from weedy land to lush garden, yet we expect our marriages to blossom beautifully without the daily work of pulling up weeds and planting seeds.
C. Marriage is a long-term exercise in gardening – you have to be committed to pulling out weeds and planting seeds, or you will simply not have the marriage that grace makes possible.
II. Jeremiah and Your Marriage
A. God's words of commission to Jeremiah have a powerful and practical application to your commitment to a daily lifestyle of marriage reconciliation.
B. Embedded in God's words to the prophet is a model for how real and lasting change takes place.
C. It is wonderfully helpful for diagnosing and correcting your marriage in the places where both are needed, 10.
III. Some Weeds That Need to Be Pulled.
A. Selfishness
B. Busyness
C. Inattention
D. Self-righteousness
E. Fear
F. Laziness
G. When was the last time you looked for weeds in your marriage?
IV. Planting Seeds
A. Pulling weeds and planting seeds are happening at the same time.
B. Let me quickly suggest a few choice seeds to be planted as your marriage is transformed.
1. Joy
2. Peace
3. Kindness
4. Faithfulness
5. Gentleness
6. Self-control
Conclusion: Pulling weeds and planting good seeds require help
If your marriage is ever going to be what it was designed to be, you need divine intervention. The big battles are not the ones you fight with your spouse (though it certainly feels that way). No, the big battles are the ones being fought in your heart. All of the horizontal skirmishes between a husband and wife are the result of this deeper battle. Remember, the DNA of sin is selfishness. God knows how big our struggle is. That's why didn't just give us a set of principles; no, he gave us himself! He literally got inside your heart so he can battle for you at the very place where the war for your marriage is raging. If you and your spouse are God's children, then your marriage isn't just a union of two; it is more accurately a union of three. Hope for your marriage is not to be found in your spouse. No, it is to be found in that third invisible Person, who has made himself part of your union.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2016/04/pulling-weeds-planting-seeds-jer-14-10.html
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