The VowsToKeep Marriage Podcast

Wisdom for Marriage: The I AM Statements of Jesus (pt. 1) :: [Ep. 245]

• David & Tracy Sellars • Episode 245

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Wisdom for Marriage: The I AM Statements of Jesus (pt. 1) :: [Ep. 245]

Do you feel like you have been spinning your wheels in marriage? Or do you feel robbed by the enemy, or abandoned by the things you put your trust in? If so, don’t miss this week’s episode on the VowsToKeep Marriage Podcast! We are zeroing in on Jesus’s “I AM” statements and emphasize why and how they are good news for you and your marriage. 

Come join us! 

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Vows to Keep Radio with David and Tracy Sellers. The mission of Vows to Keep is to help couples develop a biblically healthy marriage through the application of God's Word and a deeper relationship with Him. They desire to help you and your spouse grow closer to each other and closer to the heart of God's design for your marriage. Now here's David and Tracy with today's broadcast.

Speaker 2:

Hey, this is David and Tracy Sellers.

Speaker 3:

And, just like you, we have made vows to keep.

Speaker 2:

David. Today we are in part seven of our Bible for Marriage series. We just got done wrapping up going through the Ten Commandments one by one and just seeing how God's Word applies to our marriage. And really that's what this series is all about we are taking some really familiar passages from God's word and seeing how they can directly apply to our marriage, and I'm really excited about today's broadcast.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the feedback has been great and we appreciate you guys as listeners, digging into God's word in a way that makes it meaningful, that makes it apply to what you're going through.

Speaker 2:

I read through the book of John earlier this year, David and I noticed that there was all these statements that Jesus made all throughout the book of John, that some people like to refer to as the I am statements of Jesus. He says things like I am the light of the world, I am the good shepherd, I am the way, the truth and the life. So what we're gonna do in this part of the Bible for Marriage series is go through each one of the I Am statements and see how we can apply them to our marriages.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it's so cool to be able to see God's character show through in these I Am statements, and when you begin to realize exactly how they can affect your marriage, exactly what it tells you about who Jesus wants to be in your life Boy, it's powerful stuff.

Speaker 2:

David, I know sometimes people take notes in church. Well, if you are a note taker here today as a listener, this would be the broadcast to take notes on, because every single one of these seven I am statements of Jesus. We're going to break down into these categories. Every single one contains an invitation, everyone contains an action, a promise and a warning. So let me bait the hook here for you for just a minute before we jump into the first one. If you feel like you have been spinning your wheels in marriage, just like David and I feel like we do sometimes if you feel like your marriage has been robbed by the enemy, if you feel like your marriage has been robbed by the enemy, if you feel like you have been abandoned by the things that you put your trust in, if you feel like you are just stumbling around in the darkness and not being satisfied, this is the broadcast for you.

Speaker 3:

If you're someone who says you know what, I've given my life to the Lord, he is my Lord and Savior, but I don't feel like I understand exactly what that relationship means to me. Well, we're going to be talking today about the promises that come with knowing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the things in which we can actually experience true satisfaction in. We're going to also spend some time talking about the actions in which Jesus is compelling us to, and this is something which I find some people either completely ignore or completely focus on but these verses no doubt compel us to do things differently than we would on our own. And then, finally, we're going to unpack.

Speaker 3:

Who is it that Jesus is specifically talking to in these verses? Because it is an invitation that's being made to someone, and that someone is you. Perhaps it's because I just got done eating that I find myself not hungry in a physical way, but how many of us are hungry in a spiritual way? How many of us are able to see what is found in John, chapter 6, verse 35, when Jesus declares I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty?

Speaker 2:

And David. What's interesting about this is, right before Jesus tells his disciples this, guess what he does? He feeds the 5,000, the story where there's the 12 baskets left over. He's basically saying I am what you've been searching for, I am what you can have in abundance. I love that.

Speaker 2:

Like we said earlier, there are four points to each of these. I am statements of Jesus, the first one being the invitation. Jesus says he who comes to me, that's a whoever wants to be satisfied. The invitation Whoever wants to be satisfied, the invitation, the action here is to come and to believe. Jesus says here's my promise to you If you do that, you are never going to hunger and thirst. And the warning that comes with this, david, is that if we do not come to Jesus for our fulfillment, our hunger and our thirst is going to go unsatisfied. I think a lot of times we do walk around in life spiritually hungry. It's like the Israelites in the Old Testament where God rained down the manna for them and the quail. Every day they had to go out and pick up what God had provided for them, but it had to be a daily thing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, tracy, we go to a pretty hip church that offers donuts and there's a 10-minute break where you can actually go and get some donuts. Imagine if the only place in which you got physical nourishment was the only place you got spiritual nourishment, because I think all of us know that once a week we would starve to death if all we had was a few donuts. On Sunday, the same is true with your spiritual walk. You can't imagine how many people think that they're going to live spiritually on a Sunday sermon and maybe flip through their scriptural calendar every day and get a few morsels off of that. Maybe they tune in and listen to a very special radio program, but that is just not enough spiritual calories to get you and your spouse into a healthy spiritual state. You've got to have God's word. You've got to have daily prayer in your home. You've got to have Jesus Christ. You can't live in a way that's haphazardly trying to be fed.

Speaker 2:

We've all seen the pictures, haven't we? Of the kids in third world countries. They're emaciated. They haven't had a good meal in a long time. They've got a bowl of rice or a bowl of porridge once every three days. It's just enough to get them by.

Speaker 2:

But you know, those kids aren't strong enough to have a lasting, healthy adulthood ahead of them. It's the same thing with our marriage. If the muscles of your relationship are not getting exercised, they're not getting the nourishment they need, the muscles like kindness, forgiveness and faithfulness, your marriage is going to be atrophied. If the foundation of your marriage is not there because it's not getting the nourishment, it's going to be skeletal at best. Right now I have a broken arm. I've got three broken bones in my body right now and I know that if I just ate every now and then and when I did eat, if I had ho-hos or Twinkies, my bones would not mend very well. I've got to put vitamins into my body. I've got to put good food into my body. I had vegetables for lunch, by the way. I want those bones to grow strong again and that's exactly what needs to happen in your marriage.

Speaker 2:

Eat of the bread of life, your invitation today from Jesus is to come to him hungry. He wants you to come ready. He wants you to come ready to be filled. Jesus says he who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. So that's the second action here, david, that fresh manna that we need. We need to believe that that will be there for us tomorrow, that God will provide just exactly what our marriage needs. So, david, what would you say our marriage needs right now, between the two of us?

Speaker 3:

I think clearly we need more quality time together.

Speaker 2:

So, david, as you and I apply Jesus, I am statement him saying I am the bread of life. I think there's two things we can do in our relationship here together. First of all, to come to him, and I think, as we come to him, what we have to do is be humble enough to learn from him. Right now, I think there's a lot of good things demanding time from our lives, but we have to come to the wisdom of God's word and adjust our priorities accordingly. And then we have to believe that, yes, there are high demands right now. We're making the best decisions we can, but to put our faith in Jesus Christ not faith in our marriage, necessarily, but faith in him, that he is going to sustain and that he's going to give us a freshness for one another. That's going to come every single day as we seek after him and as we believe him. For that, and I think there's so much satisfaction that comes in that coming to him and believing.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, that's spot on. How about you? Is your marriage like ours? Just overbooked with things that are probably good things, but you're starving yourself of what is actually the best thing. This is what Jesus stands to offer you.

Speaker 2:

We do find ourselves seeking after things to quench our thirst and satiate our hunger. Psalm 42, 1,. The psalmist says Lord, I pant after you like a deer longs for streams of living water. That is what we should be seeking and that is what Jesus was seeking when he was in the wilderness. This is found in Mark, chapter 4, or Luke, chapter 4, where the Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to fast for 40 days and for 40 nights. Can you imagine how hungry he must have been, how much he wanted his appetite to be fulfilled?

Speaker 2:

Well, satan comes in at this moment where he thinks he can catch Jesus off guard. He tempts Jesus in the same way that he tempts us today. He tells Jesus to turn the stones into bread. He said hey, is your God going to provide for you? I don't think so. You better provide for yourself.

Speaker 2:

But you know what Jesus made a choice to fast. He made a choice to go out into the wilderness to be obedient to the Spirit of God. And you and I have made a choice to follow Jesus as well. And there is a cost to that. And Satan says will your God provide? Probably not. You better provide for yourself. But I love how Jesus answers Satan in Mark, chapter four. He says man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. And the word that comes from the mouth of God is our bread of life. That is Jesus. The next time you are feeling hungry and you can recognize this, because when you're hungry you start to chase something, you start to be intentionally pursuing something Take a look at what you're pursuing, because there's a lot out there in the world that we can snack on, and it takes away our hunger for the true bread of life.

Speaker 3:

So it stands to reason, as we live in a way which Jesus Christ is the bread of our life day in and day out, that then we get to see John 8, verse 12, come into play. This is where Jesus says I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Speaker 2:

There again, david. We have the invitation it's to. Whoever will follow him will have this promise that he offers. The action is to follow Jesus. The promise is that we can step out of the darkness of sin and into God's light, and the warning here, I think, is a warning that we all need to hear in our marriage. When we walk in the darkness, when we're not walking according to God's word, we are going to stumble in that darkness. You might say you know what? Life's going pretty good right now. There's a sin in my past that I've conquered. I can't really think of anything right now. That's tripping up my marriage.

Speaker 2:

But James 2.10 says that whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is actually guilty of breaking all of it. And that's why you and I need the gospel. We need the light of the world so that we can come out of darkness and walk in God's marvelous light. I think I've alluded to this, but I want to say it again. We stumble when we cease to follow God's commands. So we have to ask the question then what are God's commands for our marriage?

Speaker 2:

1 John 2, 3 says we know that we have come to know God if we keep his commands. And what does he command? In Ephesians 5, 2, he says live a life of love. And in 1 John 2, starting in verse 7, he says dear friends, I'm not writing a new commandment for you. Rather, it's an old one that you've heard from the beginning.

Speaker 2:

This old commandment to love one another, is the same message you heard before and Jesus is saying today. This is the message I have for you right now, jesus. It says in verse eight lived the truth of this commandment, and we are also living it, for the darkness is disappearing, god's word says, and the true light is already shining. It seems so simple that that could be the answer to what's happening in our marriage, david. It just seems like it should be much more complicated than just laying down our rights and loving each other like God loved us. But yet that's what Jesus says we need to do to walk in his light. But a lot of times I think we apply our own rules to our marriage, hoping that that will get us where we want to be.

Speaker 3:

What happens over time in our marriage is that love is replaced with that kind of worldly wisdom that you're talking about, tracy, and we can see in James chapter 3 that God's word addresses that. It says in verse 13,. Who is wise and understanding among you, let them show it by their good life, by good deeds done in humility. That comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, don't boast about it or deny the truth. Such wisdom and that's in quotes does not come down from heaven but is earthly. It's unspiritual. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you have disorder and every evil practice. We walk blindly in our relationships and we stumble all over the place.

Speaker 3:

God's greatest commandment is that we love our closest neighbors as ourself, which is you, tracy, and to all of our listeners who are married, your spouse is your closest neighbor and loving them as yourself is going to have an immediate result of stepping into the light and the presence of that light of Jesus Christ. Darkness has to flee in a marriage like that. The result of following, which is the action step in this case, is loving. But James chapter 3 continues because it talks about what's the result of love like that toward your spouse, it says. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure. There's peace, loving and considerate Submissiveness all built into this. It's full of mercy. There's good fruit it's impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Speaker 2:

What a harvest you can have in your marriage and your life as you step into the light following that one simple and yet very complex command to love your neighbor as yourself. It's an old command and it's a new one, and we need to apply it today. One of the most potent examples that Jesus gives us of that is in John chapter 13 that comes right before our next I am statement, where Jesus states I am the way, the truth and the life. Here he is in John 13. He is spending this deep, quality time with his disciples and he doesn't hold anything back. He knows his time with them is short, so he teaches them what it looks like to love one another. Can you picture the scene with me here in John 13? He's bending down in the position of a servant, doing the lowliest of jobs in the whole house, washing his disciples' feet, and it's right after that that he shares with them. In John 13, 33, my children, I will be with you only a little longer. Now you can imagine the panic I think that must have incited within them. Their friend, their teacher, their master is going away. Simon Peter voices what they were probably all thinking. In verse 36 in John 13, he says Lord, where are you going? Jesus replies where I'm going, you cannot follow, but you will follow later. So as we dig into this next I am statement here on Vows to Keep Radio I want to ask you a question what is the greatest gift that God has given you in your marriage?

Speaker 2:

Maybe it's each other time together, longevity, your children, faithfulness, or maybe a reconciliation that you two have experienced within your marriage. I want to pull the lens back and look at where all those good things actually come from, because the disciples' greatest gift that day was the presence of Jesus. He was with them, but he just told them that's going to be changing. In John 14, the very next verses, he says do not let your hearts be troubled. He tells us that he's going away to prepare a place for us so that he can come back and take us with him, so that we will always be where he is. I'd like to plant this seed in your heart and in your mind. Today, your greatest gift in your marriage is the presence of Jesus Christ. It is the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Yes, jesus ascended to heaven to prepare a place for us after he rose from the grave, but in the meantime, he continues to give us his greatest gift himself. If you keep reading in John 14, you're going to see that Jesus explains how that gift is going to continue. It's through the Holy Spirit.

Speaker 2:

Your success in marriage, your love for one another, your ability to navigate through an ugly fight or a hard decision, is all a result of God's presence in your life. If you look at the scriptures right before Jesus' I am statement here in John 14, verses 1 through 5, and then you look at John 14, 6, where Jesus says I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. We can look at those four pieces that we've been talking about today. We can see the invitation here. The invitation is to know the way. Jesus says it is possible for you to know the way. The action Jesus calls us to is to come and believe, and the promise is that we get access to the Father, we get the solid foundation of God's truth and we get everlasting life. And the warning here is that there is no life, no truth, no way to the Father found in. If your marriage is wandering and you're looking for a path, jesus is the path you're looking for. If your marriage is built on shaky foundation, jesus is the truth that your marriage is needing to be built on and if your marriage is not full of life in fact, it's just the opposite you need to seek out Jesus, who says I am the life. Are you tracking with us here today when we say, yes, you have some good gifts in your marriage, including your love for one another, but you wouldn't have anything good in your marriage if it wasn't for the presence of Jesus, the presence of the Holy Spirit, in your life. There's three things about the presence of God that I want to talk to you about right now.

Speaker 2:

Number one most of the time, you and I do not recognize the value of the presence of God. Therefore, it's not really something we give a lot of thought to. Number two without the presence of God, we would have nothing good, absolutely nothing. Forgiveness would not be possible between you and your spouse. Kind words they are going to be completely replaced with constant harshness, or maybe not even talking at all. Without the presence of God, the love in your marriage will grow cold, with no hope for change. You need God's presence. And number three even if we do recognize God's presence as his greatest gift to us. It seems unharnessable, in a way like ephemeral, unable to grasp.

Speaker 2:

Thomas upon hearing Jesus say in verse four of John 14, jesus says you know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas says this Lord, we don't know where you're going, so how can we know the way? There's a desperation in that question that Thomas is asking, just like the desperation we often feel when there's trouble in our marriage. We have this promise of God's presence, but how do we obtain it? How do we harness it? How do we get its healing and redemptive power for the situation that we're in right now?

Speaker 2:

Jesus outlines that in his response to Thomas, the very next verse, he says Thomas, you do know the way. He says I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. His words here state emphatically that the way to the unchanging presence of the Father is only through Jesus. The only truth that will sustain and provide in your marriage is the truth of the unchanging presence of the Father, is only through Jesus. The only truth that will sustain and provide in your marriage is the truth of the word of God, manifest through Jesus and the only life you're ever going to see in your marriage. The only seed that's ever going to take root and grow and produce a harvest of good is through the life that Jesus embodies, the life that only he offers. If your marriage is lacking a harvest today, go to Jesus as your source of life.

Speaker 2:

If your marriage has been basing its decisions on the wisdom of the world, which is so easy to do, you need to build a new foundation on the truth of God's word, following Jesus' command where he washes the disciples' feet. In John 13, 34, a new command I give you. Jesus says love one another. That is your new foundation. In verse 35, jesus says by this, by you loving one another, everyone will know that you're my disciple. You see, following Jesus and only his truth will evidence God to a watching world. They're going to see his presence working in your lives. They're not going to be able to help it. Actually, they maybe are even going to have their eyes open to believe that Jesus is the only way to the Father and that his presence is truly his greatest gift to you. And they can experience that presence also when they follow Jesus as the only way to the Father.

Speaker 2:

If you're listening today, we know that you want to experience a healthy marriage. In fact, you don't just want to experience, you want to have that as an active part of your life. You want to have a biblically healthy marriage. We want to challenge you to think about the I Am statements of Jesus that we've talked about today here on Vows to Keep Radio.

Speaker 2:

Number one the bread of life. The action you need to take is to come humbly to Jesus and partake of what he's offered you and to believe that His provision will be there for your marriage again tomorrow, if you are stumbling in your sin, we are invited to step into the light, to never have to walk in darkness again when we follow the commands of Jesus. And the last one that we talked about today Jesus saying he is the way, the truth and the life, but his presence in fact to us is his greatest gift. Join us next week here on Vows to Keep Radio as we look at the last four of the I Am statements of Jesus. And John Jesus says I am the vine, I am the resurrection and the life, I am the gate and I am the good shepherd. It's been great to study God's word here with you today on Vows to Keep Radio. You can listen to past broadcasts at VowsToKeepcom.

Speaker 1:

Vows to Keep is supported by a team which includes biblical coaches, writers and pastoral advisors. If you have a desire to serve marriages in your community, we would love to hear from you. Vows to Keep is a not-for-profit marriage ministry designed to bring God's encouraging truth to the marriages of our area. As a not-for-profit organization, our commitment to Christlike marriages includes providing much-needed services, regardless of a couple's financial ability to offset the cost of Vows to Keep operations. If you are unable to donate your time or abilities, but would like to help support Vows to Keep financially, visit VowsToKeepcom and click on the donate link. This program is sponsored by Vows to Keep of Zanesfield, ohio.

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David Sellars

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Tracy Sellars

Host