Keep Marriage Sacred

Marriage is defined in scripture as a lifelong. committed relationship between a man and a woman.

Marriage was the first human institution created by God, long before the institutions of government and the church. The world today has redefined marriage with the legalization of same sex marriage.

This has resulted in distortion of the marriage relationship and loss of comprehension of the sacred union of marriage as intended by God. For many marriage has been dispensed with as unnecessary, as co-habitation in now prevalent.

Marriage is a sacred institution created by God and is central to, and essential for, the making of families. God designed the union of husband and wife in marriage to reflect His image, in that both man and woman were created in the image of God (Gen 1:27) , and in their union reveal differing aspects of the image of God.

The husband and wife become one flesh (Gen 2:24) reflects the mysterious and wonderful union of the Holy Trinity.

Keeping Marriage Sacred

Genesis 2:18–24 (NKJV)

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of man

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Because she was taken out of man.

God Establishes Marriage

In all of God’s creation there was only one thing He considered not good: “It is not good that the man should be alone” (v.18)

God would make a help meet for him, “a woman, and brought her to him” (v.22)

TERM: Help meet, Means one on the same level as Adam, his equal, but with essential differences, making them perfectly suited to one another.

In marriage the male and female are made one flesh by God. Therefore, in marriage the image of God in the male is brought together with the image of God in the female, making the image of God complete.

God did not make woman from Adam’s head to be above him, nor from his feet to be beneath him, but from his side to be beside him. ST. Augustine

First weeding, God the Father gave the bride away.

God brought Eve to Adam, it speaks of the value and dignity of the woman, and of the marriage relationship.

First principal of marriage, leave and cleave.

Man leaving his father and mother means the marriage relationship must take priority over his relationship with parents. The man cleaving to his wife means he is to adhere to her above all others. She is to be first and only in his life.

The Sanctity of Marriage

Ephesians 5:31–33 NKJV

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Marriage is considered to be a great mystery because it is made in covenant with God, as God has ordained it to be, given by God a sacred significance.

Husband love the wife, the wife reverence her husband.

husband love for his wife like Christ loves the church wife reverence her husband, awe and respect

In Matthew 19, Jesus spoke about marriage. Matthew 19:1-9

Matthew 19:1–9 (NKJV)

The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?”

He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.”

one man, one woman, two becoming one

This is speaking to the consummation of marriage. Sexual intercourse in marriage is a spiritual and moral experience. This is the reason why pre-marital, extra-marital and homosexual relationships are forbidden by God.

On the question of divorce, only in cases of sexual infidelity (9).

Remain Pure In Marriage 1 Corinthians 6:18

1 Corinthians 6:18 (NKJV) Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

1 Corinthians 7:5 (NKJV) Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

Deterrent to Sexual Immorality

The Apostle Paul was addressing the men of Corinth and prostitutes, Paul said flee (run away) from fornication (18)

fornication all kinds of sexual immorality

Sexual immorality is a sin against one’s own body, because it is the misuse and abuse of one’s own body.

Christians bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, therefore, sexual immorality desecrates the temple of God.

Again Paul said, as a deterrent to sexual immorality have your own husband, wife.

Sexual fidelity between husband and wife must be maintained to prevent extra-marital sexual relationships.

Husband and wife have a mutual responsibility to satisfy the sexual needs of each other, and nothing is to take precedence over than fasting and prayer.

Guard Your Heart

Matthew 5:27–30 NKJV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Jesus said, “You shall not commit adultery” (7th) and that “You shall not covet (desire, lust after) your neighbor’s wife.

Adultery begins in the heart, breaking the 10th, before it moves to the physical act, breaking the 7th.

Practice Mutual Love and Respect Biblical Pattern for the wife

Ephesians 5:21–24 (NKJV) submitting to one another in the fear of God.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.

This teaching follows the command to be filled with the Holy Spirit, worship in the Spirit.

If husband and wife are living a Spirit filled life, this will be evident in their lives

The rule governing all relationships between Christians is that we are to be submissive to one another. Meaning when a fellow Christian encourages us to do what we know is right, we should submit to that encouragement.

The Christian wife should submit to her own husband,”as unto the Lord” (22).

It is expected of a Christian husband that he will ask nothing of his wife that is not pleasing to the Lord.

The result, the wife is fulfilling God’s pattern for marriage, in which she depicts the submission of the church to the headship of Jesus Christ.

Biblical Mandate For the Husband

Ephesians 5:25–30 NKJV

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.

The primary responsibility of the Christian husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the church.

The Christian husband should love his wife enough to sacrifice his life for her

The love and care Christ has for the church is indicative of the love and care the Christian husband should have for his Christian wife.

Conclusion: Remembering love is an act of the will and not just an emotion, Paul commands husbands to reflect the love of Christ in the marriage by loving their wives as themselves. Love does not produce hate or loathing, but nurtures to full maturity and potential and treats with tender care (cherisheth) the wife and the marriage in the same manner Christ does the church. For as Eve was bone of Adam’s bone and flesh, the husband and wife are indivisible in standing and substance, just as the Church is with Christ.

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