"You shall not commit adultery" ( Exodus 20:14).
IDEA: A covenant marriage needs grace.
PURPOSE: To help listeners see how grace works in a marriage relationship.
When we say that we are “saved by grace,” what does that mean?
Would you agree, then, that we are saved by grace, but after that we are responsible for keeping the law?
I. Grace and law-keeping are two completely different systems.
Law-keeping is always keeping score. I do this for God, therefore I deserve what God gives me.
Grace responds to God in love. It recognizes that God does not love us because of what we do, but in spite of what we do. When we realize how much God loves us, then we respond in worship, obedience, and service.
II. Grace and not score-keeping is foundational for growth in covenant marriage.
Think of a spiral.[1] At the beginning of the spiral, think of LOVE. As you come around the circle, think of GRACE. Love produces grace. Next on the spiral, grace produces an attitude of SERVING. As you continue around the spiral, your grace and serving produce INTIMACY. And intimacy deepens love.
Look at how grace, serving, and intimacy grow out of love and then produce it in a deeper way.
It has a large element of forgiveness. When 1 Peter 4:8 tells us that love covers a multitude of sins, that’s grace and forgiveness at work.
It is also confessing my faults and receiving forgiveness as needed.
As we experience this in a marriage, we can more deeply appreciate God’s forgiveness.
One major way you see grace in a marriage is by an attitude of forgiveness.