By looking at what the Bible has to say about it, we want to define it and see what God’s intentions are for marriage.
1. MARRIAGE CONFUSION
Marriage and its definition is under attack.
Confusion in marriage in the church today
Paul “Better for a person not to marry” 1 Corinthians 7: 8
Those who get married will have troubles and i am trying to spare you these problems 7: 28
Better to marry than to burn with lust 7: 9
Pretty encouraging words from Paul concerning marriage.
2. MARRIAGE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST
God in marriage
God compared love for us through marriage throughout the Bible. Hosea 2: 16, 19 WHEN THE DAY COMES YOU WILL CALL ME MY HUSBAND INSTEAD OF MASTER…I WILL MAKE YOU MY WIFE FOREVER SHOW YOU YOU RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUSTICE UNFAILING LOVE AND COMPASSION
God rejoices over us as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride Isaiah 62: 5
Jesus bridegroom Matthew 19: 15
Heaven a wedding banquet Matthew 22, Revelation 19:7
Spiritual infidelity compared to adultery
Jeremiah 3: 8 gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries
As humans we have finite words to express ourselves so symbolism is a powerful tool to understand God.
Ephesians 5: 25 – 27 For Husbands this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. he did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish.
Marriage is first off an example of Christ love and commitment to his people.
3. BATTLE AGAINST THIS.
There is going to be a battle against this.
Biggest battle is not homosexual marriage, but divorce.
Augustine in 350 marriage is for
- Bearing children
- Fidelity
- Sacrament Covenant that cannot be broken THIS ONE MOST IMPORTANT BECAUSE YOU CAN HAVE A MARRIAGE WITHOUT CHILDREN AND FIDELITY CAN COME IN AND MARRIAGE CAN SURVIVE, BUT IS COVENANT IS BROKEN THEN IT IS OVER.
Anglican Church in 1500’S CHANGED THE DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE TO MEAN
- Bearing children
- Remedy against sexual sin
- Mutual comfort
Living out an analogy of god is for nothing more than
- populating the world
- avoiding sexual sin
- comforting others by having a cure for loneliness or financial blessing
4. LIVING THE AROMA
We are the aroma of Christ and are called to imitate Christ in all we do.
1 Thessalonians 4: 1 goal is to please god and do it more and more
Number one goal in marriage along as in live is to please God
2 Corinthians 5: 15 No longer live for themselves but live for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 4: 10 We always carry around the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body
His motives his purposes his favor might dominate everything I do
Key Point: marriage must model ETERNAL forgiveness, selfless love, and sacrifice.
EXAMPLE: living together to see if it will work doesn’t work because there is no covenant. If troubles come up we just assume it is not working so we separate.
We are called to exemplify Christ’s love to others.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In Revelation he is creating making all things new. God is going to continue to create throughout eternity. Marriage can continue to be made new all the time in our lives.