At The Family Church here in Gainesville, senior pastor Philip Griffin began a new message series about wisdom, drawing from the Old Testament book of Proverbs as well as other books in scripture. Last Sunday's sermon was titled Three Stages of Marriage and the core Biblical verse of focus was Proverbs 24:3...click on the passage to read it through Bible Gateway...
Marriages can be broken down into three stages: the Honeymoon stage, the Chaos stage, and the Enduring Love stage. Pastor Philip listed some words that describe each one:
Honeymoon: intensity, idealism, infatuation, ignorance.
Chaos: disagreements, defensiveness, disapproval, disappointment.
Enduring Love: commitment, consideration, communication, confidence.
One of the problems, Philip pointed out, with going through these stages...and all marriages either go through them or end in divorce...is that when that middle "chaos" stage begins, one or both of the partners may long for that "honeymoon" stage and seek it with others outside the marriage. And you often see people who will marry, then move into chaos, divorce, remarry, move again into chaos, divorce again...and the chain continues through multiple marriages.
Couples who are undergoing the Chaos stage should take solace in that it is universal. Keeping our eyes on God, we can receive his love and grace and turn our attentions not to our own selfish interests as if marriage were a consumer relationship, but rather elevate our spouse's over our own in a truly covenant relationship. This growth parallels the covenant relationship between Jesus, the groom, and his bride, the church. As believers we also see these three stages of Honeymoon, Chaos, and Enduring Love in a spiritual sense, the last reflected in our maturity in the faith...
You can watch this sermon through the church's YouTube video website...just click on this link: [TFC Videos]. The Family Church is located at 2022 SW 122nd Street and holds its Sunday morning services at 9 and 10:30. There's the weekly sermon as well as inspiring praise and worship music, prayer, and opportunities to engage in small groups and discipleship throughout the week. Free coffee is also available before and between services in the hospitality room on the right side of the entranceway. Looking forward to more wisdom this Sunday...
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