I was under the impression that the church was to forgive people for their sins. If the pastor only laid into the husbands and provided no absolution, you're right, I wouldn't go back. Of course, I probably wouldn't have been there in the first place. Was there any Gospel?
I agree. One of the biggest problems of contemporary churches today is that Jesus Christ has been relegated to the balcony -- it's nice to have Him around, and we'll all occasionally give Him a nod during the services, but He really isn't presented as having much to do with our current life situations, other than to give us a few principles for living life. The problems with most marriages is that....husbands and wives are trying to live a caraciture of "Christian marriage" in the power of their own flesh and sincerity. Unless I'm completely reading the New Testament in the wrong way, we are to live our lives by the power of the resurrection life of Christ who resides within us. A message that doesn't point the church to the power and resources of the indwelling life of Christ isn't a message of the gospel.
It was all based upon The Gospel.
It was a job description for husbands taken from the Gospel.
Our pastor spends a great deal of time with the kids during the summer vacation and every year he comes back infuriated with the husbands.
The sermon was sobering and I hope many husbands renewed their committment to biblically based marriages. It made me sweat.
And by the way, your kids know what's going on in your marriage. Fairly accurately.