Text: Psalm 140:1–4
Topic: What the Bible says about spousal abuse

Introduction
• Illustration: Vis tells the story of an abused woman who received terrible advice from her pastor due to his misinterpretation of Scripture.
• Building one's entire theology of female-male relationships around one verse or set of verses serves to sharpen one image as it distorts the entire picture.
• Illustration: Vis relates several statistics concerning the number of abused women per capita in the United States.
• While Christian marriages have a lower likelihood of abuse, domestic violence occurs in Christian homes as well.
     -  Illustration: Joy Bussert offers insight into the surprising identities of abusers and victims.

God's message about domestic violence: Never!
• Psalm 140 has become a fervent prayer of such women.
• God wants to say that abuse is evil.
• God wants men to know that violence is a misuse of power that stems from a misunderstanding of the Biblical concept of submission.

God's message to men: Use power to protect
• The second thing we have to acknowledge is that men have power.
• In Mark 10:42–44, Jesus confronts men who have erroneous views on how to use their power.
     - Illustration: In his book The Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster writes, "the sting of
     the teaching [on submission] falls upon the dominant partner."
• God never condones violence.

God's message to victims: It's not your fault
• God wants to tell abused women: You don't deserve it, and you're not to blame.
• Part of the terror of abuse is that most battered women do not know what triggers their husbands' violence.
     - Illustration: In the movie Sleeping with the Enemy, a husband beats his wife after his
     neighbor tells him how beautiful she is.
• Women also have a warped view of submission.
     - Illustration: A study of battered Christian women in Christianity Today reveals abused
     women blame their abuse on their own inability to submit to their husbands.

Conclusion
• The answer begins with our theology; we've got to study the whole Word.
• The church has to get involved.
     - Illustration: A woman writes that the church's intervention saved her marriage while
     helping her husband quit his violent behavior.

For the full text of this sermon, go to "Battered Into Submission."