Pastoral Reflection for 3.22.15

Dear friends,
 
This week we are examining what 1 Peter says regarding how husbands and wives ought to conduct themselves with regards to marriage. If you are a visitor, this may cause you to shrink away or set off a reaction in you. Perhaps it makes you think of a time in which someone made an insensitive remark using a gender stereotype, or perhaps a way in which someone twisted God’s truth to oppress people in history.
 
As someone who has thought at length about whether we can trust in the Bible and what it says, let me simply ask you this.
 
Who is Jesus? This is of utmost importance. If He was simply “a man of his time”, prone to error, and not the Creator-God of the Jewish faith, then we have far more to worry about than what the Bible says with regards to marriage. The entire foundation is a hoax of epic proportions.
 
But if Jesus is indeed who He claimed to be, then all He said is true.  Which means that the His Spirit really does speak through the words of the Bible, which means that the Biblical authors are actually speaking a truth which was for the saints of their time, but also universally true, even if that truth has been expressed in different cultures and peoples throughout history.
 
We often bring our own cultural presuppositions and biases to the table when talking about something like marriage. At City On A Hill we make strive to do nothing except faithfully teach exactly what God’s word says. Our prayer is that as you worship, you would ask Him for discernment and clarity to understand what He has spoken to us in the Bible.
 
With that in mind, a 40 minute sermon is hardly enough time to delve deeply into such an issue. Feel free to talk to someone after service or request a meeting with pastor or elder on your connection card if you would like to talk about this matter further.
 
Also consider reading some of the following books if you are interested in exploring this topic further:
 
The Meaning of Marriage – Tim Keller, NYT Best Selling Author

Grace and Peace,
Mike Hong
Pastor of Worship & Mission