Marital Bliss?

Posted on July 8, 2007

 

 Marital Bliss?: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Genesis 2:17-25

I read and article this past week that stated something surprising. It basically asserted that marriage is one of life’s greatest tests. Marriage will bring out the very best in you and the very worst in you, and nobody will ever know the real you more than your spouse. After ten years of marriage, I can agree with that.

I often hear people say about some product, “They don’t make them like they used to!” That’s true of marriage in the sense that we don’t have perfect marriages today, but there was a perfect marriage at one time and it was between Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden.

GOD’S DESIGN FOR MARRIAGE…

I.          Companionship.

After everything in God’s creation was “good,” one thing was “not good.” In fact, the language is rather strong here, with the Hebrew sentence beginning with the words “Not Good!” What was not good? That man should be alone.

II.         Completion.

This is not a political sermon, and this is certainly not a political issue. No matter what anybody on earth says, God’s design for marriage is one man and one woman for life. It does not include any other model such as polygamy or same-sex partnerships. Physically, emotionally, and socially, man and woman were designed to complete one another.

III.        Partnership.

Man and woman were designed to work TOGETHER to make marriage work. It is mutual. I believe in the principle that the husband is the head of the wife and the wife is to submissively follow her husband’s servant-leadership. But I also believe in the principle of mutual submission (Eph. 5:22) that says that everyone must seek to meet the needs of others first.

HOW TO MAKE IT WORK…

Mark Magee suggests these three words as summaries of this passage:

I.          LEAVE: Make a clean break.

To “leave” is to sever, to cut off. Parents, you may be parents by blood for a lifetime, but you are parents in the practical and authoritative sense only until your kids are mature enough to leave the home. You should encourage this process of growing up and prepare your kids to “leave.” If they won’t leave, charge them rent. If they pay the rent, raise it every month till they’re gone. (This one may come back to bite me someday!)

To you who are married, it’s no longer a matter of choosing between your spouse and your parents, the choice was made when you decided to get married. You’re to make a clean break. That doesn’t mean you sever ties with your parents. On the contrary, healthy grandparent connections are a great asset the life of your kids. Family is always family. But as far as authority is concerned, you’ve formed a new family unit now and it’s time to grow up and to leave.

II.         CLEAVE: Make a lifetime commitment.

To “cleave” in today’s language means to chop apart, but in Hebrew, it meant to adhere or to glue together. It is symbolic of the binding of man and woman in marriage. Cleaving, in a practical sense, refers to the making of that initial commitment in which you solidify your marriage with wedding vows.

I believe this is serious business. In fact, preachers get in more trouble over weddings than any other issue. I won’t marry non-Christians. If people are divorced, I expect answers from them about the circumstances. If they are living together, I expect them to separate until the wedding date. If they’re going to open a bar at the reception, I won’t do the ceremony. All of this seems old-fashioned and it also seems to be an invasion of people’s personal choices. But if I’m invited to ask God to bless a union in front of witnesses and in front of God, then I want to do all that I can to make sure it’s a Christ-centered union and that the vows made to God will be meaningful.           

III.        WEAVE: Become one flesh a day at a time.

To become one flesh is often thought of as a technical event that happens the moment rings are exchanged. In reality, it’s a process of a lifetime. There are people in this room who have been married five years, others fifty. All of you have the same thing in common – you haven’t figured it all out yet, have you? You don’t always get along.

I sometimes have people brag about the fact that they never argue. To that I say one of two things: GET REAL with each other and with others, or GET READY because you’re going to explode someday! Where there is no arguing, there is probably no honesty.

Weaving together two people into one flesh is a process of coming to understand and to complement one another, as well as forgiving each other and seeking each other’s good more than your own. It’s a lifetime struggle toward perfection that won’t be completed until Christ comes again.

Conclusion:

If a marriage works the way God intended, Jesus Christ will be glorified. Ephesians five tells us that Jesus is like the groom and the church is like His bride. He’s given Himself for her and He seeks her good above His own. He is preparing to present her to Himself a bride without any blemish. A great marriage shows off that kind of relationship to the world. It’s a picture of how much God loves every individual, enough to completely sacrifice Himself for you. Have you married Him yet? Are you living for Him with a passion?