Sometimes life doesn’t go according to plan… at least that’s the way it looks to us. One of the greatest comforts that we can find as Christians is to remember that even when it looks like things are going awry, God is still in control.
Major Themes:
- (1) Challenges and Consequences of living in Secularism as a follower of God
- (2) God’s faithfulness (1) to His Word (2) to His people
- (3) Faith/Trust – Our participation or lack of participation in God’s plan
Conclusions:
- Living under the dysfunction of man’s glory will only result in more dysfunction
- God is at work even in our most dysfunctional moments
- If our relationships are not controlled by God’s law, they will be controlled by our own
Application:
- Where does your life still look culturally defined?
- Because God is at work even now, define your relationships according to God’s design
Romans 5:6-8
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Psalm 13
“How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.”
Romans 8:28
“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
Ephesians 5:22-33
“Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.”