Sermon text:"All things have been committed/delivered (paredothe from paradidomi Gk. to give or to hand over) to me by my Father"(Mt.11:27-30,NIV).

God sent His anointed Son/lamb, slain from before the creation of all things, into a world stained and ruined by the sin of Adam's race and Satan. The world in which we live is not the place we want it to be. Neither is it the place where all people really know, serve and worship God. So God the heavenly Father has planned to change this world into a new heaven and earth where rebellion and war will be no more.

Jesus came to carry out God/Jehovah's full plan and to make/reveal in Himself the Father's full loving redemption. God gave all things into Christ's hands. Everything Christ asked for was done in the power of God's presence in Him.

All things(panta, Gk) in our scripture text included the revealing works of love and mercy which Jesus did in His earthly life for men and women. He provided new wine at the wedding in Cana. He opened the ears of the deaf and gave speech to the dumb. He gave sight to the blind, healing to lepers, strength to the weak and lame, forgiveness of sin to those like the woman taken in adultery. He spoke to the wind and water to stop the storm, and He was a present help to the heavy burdened, and rest to the weary. No sickness, misery of demons, weakness of body, or sin was too hard for His master touch to restore, or to forgive.

When Jesus said "come unto me", He was speaking the heavenly Father's words. God is merciful and long-suffering. He will forgive sin and take us into His holy presence through His Son. He will lift our load of sin and darkness and give the vision of light, with peace, joy and pure unselfish love. He gives to His child a new life-work of blessed cross bearing, self-denial and eternal glory in His Kingdom.

THE CHRISTIAN HOME

A Christian home is made up of a male and a female who are legally married before the community and pledged to marriage under God and Christ. In Ephesians 5:21-33 the Apostle Paul gives to us the Christian order for the home which is like the order of the relationship between Christ Jesus and the Church.

This plan for the home places the husband and wife in the same order as that between Christ Jesus and His body the Church, ("ekklesia" Gk. meaning a proper assembly, the congregation of God's people). This is the gathered body of Christ in relationship to each other with Christ as the head. This body/church is bonded/united in the love of Christ.

The husband is to love ("agape" Gk. sacrificial giving for another) his wife as Christ loved the Church. See verse twenty-four and following. Christ first gave His life on Calvary for the Church and wholly cleanses it by the washing of the water of His word. This cleansing makes for a spotless pure union of Christ and His bride the Church. Like a new born child the Church (Christian) is cleansed for Christ's possession of care.

Logically the Church is to be completely and totally subordinated (from root Greek word "hupataesso" meaning to place or arrange under, to be in submission) to Jesus Christ for He has made it his own. So the husband is leader and careful caregiver to/for his wife who is subordinated to him.

A major disorder and tragedy today in America is the failure of marriage among men and women with divorce being rampant. Couples are separating in great anger and disappointment.

Homosexuals see this weakness and now are attacking marriage as an institution. Their idea for marriage will not be successful either, since there is no order of subordination through sacrificial love and no sexual order. It is a mocking disorder and derangement when men try to marry men and when women try to marry women. But, it is logical also to conclude the same disorder and derangement when wives are not subordinated to their own husbands who love them as Christ loves the Church.

The call today is for men and women to find true harmony in the love of Christ; as the husband is the true head of the home in giving loving attention to the full needs of his wife and family. Unless men and women turn to this God given arrangement, marriages will continue to fall apart, no matter how much bliss and ecstasy there may be in the physical relationship of affection and union. Without pure and holy love with total submission to God and His order for marriage, marriages will continue to sour and breakdown. Our prayer today is for Christian couples to see this important order for marriage from God and Christ and to dedicate themselves to maintaining a living and loving order in their homes.