Valentine's Day Weekend

Pt. Dave Kenney

Gen 2:18-24 (NIV)

¹⁸ The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

¹⁹ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

²³ The man said,
"This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called 'woman,
for she was taken out of man."

²⁴ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

I. Romance and God

We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19
We are created in His image spiritually

• God created romance - God made us the way we are, to be romantic.
• God gave us a romantic Bible

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sara, Jacob and Leah and Rahel, Isaac and Rebbecca, Ruth and Boas. None of them are perfect, but they have great stories.

• God gave us marriage

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. v.24 The great romance of love is when it continues to marriage.

• Song of Songs [Solomon] - only a book about romance and sex, context a lot about being romance.

Christ wants us to learn about romance, and passion. And there's nothing wrong about it.

II. Romance and Passion

• God created sex - it's a gift from God. Created for a reason. When it's used unintended/outside of God, then it will leads to sin.
• Passion's role

men : physically and emotionally driven
women : emotionally and physically driven
doesn't mean men don't obey God.
This leads to caring.
Passion is included in God's package.

• Passion and Lust - outside marriage is wrong, outside God is a sin.

III. Romance as Teacher

• Romance teaches us about other kinds of love

⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸Love never fails.
1 Cor 13:4-8 NIV

• Romance teaches us about ourselves, from "as good as it gets" till "you want me to be a better man"

• Romance teaches us about Christ and the church

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her ²⁶to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰for we are members of his body. ³¹"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." ³²This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Eph 5:25-33 [NIV]

• Good romantics make good Christians

IV. Redeeming Romance

"Good Christians should be good romantics"

• Romance has a purpose
• Romance must be nurtured- "Nothing kills a good romance quicker than a bad marriage"
• Romance should grow