I was dreaming of the past.
And my heart was beating fast,
I began to lose control,
I began to lose control,
Ahh, I didn’t mean to hurt you,
I’m sorry that I made you cry,
I didn’t want to hurt you,
Ahh, I’m just a jealous guy,
–John Lennon, Jealous Guy
Wrath is fierce and anger is a flood, But who can stand before jealousy?
–Proverbs 27:4
I open this sermon asking the congregation what bothers them about the passage just read. The passage is Numbers 5:11-31, addressing when an Israelite husband was jealous about his wife. Jealousy in a relationship is always a difficult topic, because it may be justified or not, inordinate or not. But this law brought out the principle issues and granted the Israelites recourse to shape their marriages, as they set off across the wilderness.
It was 2010, and committed relationships were in decline, casual hookups on the rise, pornography use in marriage was being revealed, the lesbian promotional movie, The Kids are All Right had just come out, and our GAME-Higher Ministry was under attack. These things all come up during the message.
Though the Old Testament Israelite law is not for today, its principles still hold value and its wisdom still illuminates our intergendered relationships.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 47:54 — 17.0MB)
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