Sermon Tone Analysis

Marriage Killers 1/22/2022 AM

The Top Ten Marriage Killers

Eph.

5:21-33

Ephesians 5:21–33 (KJV 1900)

Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.

He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband.

A man asked his wife what she would like for her birthday.

Her reply was ‘I would love to be six again”.

On the morning of her birthday, he got her up bright and early and off they went to a local theme park.

What a day!

He put her on every ride in the park: the Death Slide, the Screaming Loop, the Wall of Fear--everything there was! Wow!

📷 Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park, her head reeling and her stomach upside down.

Right to McDonald's they went, where her husband ordered her a Big Mac along with extra fries and a refreshing chocolate shake.

Then it was off to a Ax throwing.

What a fabulous adventure!

Finally they both wobbled home to collapsed into bed.

He leaned over and lovingly asked, "Well, dear, what was it like being six again?"

One eye opened.

The wife said, "You idiot, I meant my dress size!"

The moral of this story is: If a woman speaks and a man is actually listening, he will still get it wrong.

This morning we read God’s blueprint for marriage.

After I do that I would like to preach a message entitled, “The Top Marriage Killers.”

This will not be an exposition of Eph. 5, but it will be a topical message, a practical message.

My prayer is it will be a helpful message, not just to the married, but also to the unmarried.

I believe these top marriage killers, also kill friendships & other relationships.

Let’s go!

An amazing thing happens down at the Linden Power plant, they make electricity and send it out to us over the high tension wires.

There are over 13 power stations in New Jersey.

The source for our electricity comes from the power plant.

But it has to come over the High Tension Wires to Sub-stations.

There it runs through transformers along more lines till it gets to a pole w/ another transformer.

From the pole it comes to the meter & in to our breaker box in our house.

From there wires take it to our electrical outlets.

From the power plant to the electrical outlet.

We plug in appliances, turn on lights & basically take our electricity for granted.

When my family and I were missionaries in Trinidad we often would lose electricity.

It was a very common occurrence.

They lose their electricity frequently, we lose it only when something unusual happens: A lightning strike, a construction or someone drives into a telephone pole.

Every once in a while, you see a transformer burn out.

These kinds of things kill electricity from coming into our home.

The plant is still producing electricity, but somewhere along the way it gets zapped.

That’s the way it is in marriage.

God is the source of happy fulfilled marriages.

He has given us his blueprint and He sent it out over the lines of the Word of God, but in many homes, the blueprint gets zapped; it gets killed.

In the same way lightning stops electricity from making its way into our homes, so there are marriage killers that stop joy & happiness from coming into our homes.

Every day, there are literally hundreds & thousands of lightning strikes across the world.

ZAP! (Turn out lights & back on).

Let’s identify the top marriage killers remove them out of our lives:

I. Overcommitment & physical exhaustion

It’s a fact, marriages fall apart because we are just over tired & worn out.

The pace of life, the pressure of life, the squeeze that life puts on us is incredible.

Paul realized what life was like all the way back in his day when he said, Don’t allow the world to squeeze you into its own mold.

Romans 12: 1 – 2 If it was true in Paul’s day, then it is certainly true in our day and area that we live in.

For many of us we are not operating out of our strength, we are operating out of our reserves.

Sometimes we hardly have enough energy for each other.

Many times, pastors and Christian workers have the same problem.

This was written for busy pastors: You know you are spending too much time in the study when thou speakest to thy children in parables & prophecies.

When you start seeing the evening paper laid out in chapters and verses.

When a list of genealogies moves you to tears.

We all have pressure; we all get the full court press from life.

Yet, no one ever said on their death bed, “I wish I would have spent more time at the office.”

I can promise you, as people come to the end of their life, it suddenly comes down to great simplicity.

People wish they would have spent more time with each other.

Why not serve God as a family?

The Second killer is:

II.

Financial Conflict

Many families fall apart because the finances get tight.

Basically, we have too much month at the end of our money.

We’ve all been there.

The only way we’re ever going to fix that is: “spend less or make more.”

That is a fact.

Someone wrote, There are three classes of people:

1.)

The Haves 2) The Have-nots 3) The Have not paid for what they have.

Have you ever heard the cute story about a couple named Herman & Mary?

Mary’s family had a lot of money & Herman’s did not have any.

They got married & Mary tended to goad Herman on the fact that she was the one who had the money.

When they were out driving the car one day, Mary said, “Herman, you know, if it wouldn’t be for me, we wouldn’t have this nice car.”

Herman did not say anything.

They pulled into the garage & got out of the car, & looked at the house & Mary said, “Herman, if it wouldn’t be for me, we wouldn’t have this house.”

Herman did not say anything.

They walked into the dining room & there they had just gotten some modern furniture and Mary said, “Herman, if it wouldn’t be for me, we wouldn’t have this modern furniture.”

Herman did not say anything.

They walked into the family room to this big, beautiful entertainment center, turned on the tv, and Mary said, “Herman, if it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t have this entertainment center.”

Herman did not say anything for a few moments, then finally he couldn’t handle it anymore.

He said, “Sweetheart, if it wouldn’t be for you and your money, I wouldn’t be here.”

Good Advice: Spend less!

Enjoy the simple things!

Get your finances under control.

Either you control your finances, or they control you.

Put the Lord first.