A Marriage Made In Heaven (Genesis 2:21-25)

INTRO

The sense of isolation and of alienation of so much of contemporary society, where even families are often defined only by their sharing the same roof and the same television set while each pursues his or her detached and separate life, serve to underline this Genesis text: it is not good to be alone.

God’s provision for marriage and family (21-22)

from his side (equal, protected, loved; neither is complete without the other)

one like him, but not like him (a counterpart, corresponding, fitting)

an ecstatic response (“At last”: a shout of praise and delight)

The woman, God’s provision, exactly fitted the man’s need. (human beings come in two sorts. There is no other category of “person” which is separate from our embodiedness: we are either male persons or female persons.

How much this needs to be reasserted today, in contrast to asserted male supremacy in some quarters on the one hand, radical feminist insistence that there is no need for men at all on the other, and a refusal by some, especially in the gay liberation movements, even to take seriously at all the complementarity and mutuality of the sexes as part of a God-given order.

God’s plan for marriage (23-24)

marriage is a covenant (a promise from one partner to another)

social, external and legal dimensions (not simply a private arrangement; accountability)

the center of the covenant: the personal relationship of committed love

a good marriage is to be the context in which each can be to the other a means by which each receives sustenance, healing and growth in maturity

there are three biblical principles the support a good marriage:

Leaving. (an emotional as well as physical separation from past familial relationships)

Cleaving. (a word about covenant-faithfulness – fidelity. Whatever the future holds, the couple intends to face it a a pair.)

faithful to a vow. (the partners will not let circumstances determine the future of their relationship; built on more than romantic feelings.

faithful to a calling. (a calling to be lived before God, open to His grace, a display of His love – Ephesians 5:32 “This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

faithful to a person. (more than staying together for the sake of appearance; a commitment to the freedom, maturity, and growth of the other person)

faithful to a relationship. (two persons in a face-to-face life encounter; a reflection of God: Being in Communion)

One flesh.

oneness at all levels of their lives (consistent intimacy)

expressed in and deepened through sexual relatonship (biblical marriage gives sex meaning)

creativity. (the family is the proper context in which children are to be brought up by, and not just begotten by, their parents; conceiving, birthing, and rearing children (a fruit of intimate oneness) is the fulfillment of God’s command to humanity to “be fruitful and multiply”

God’s plan for sexuality (24)

the context of heterosexual marriage (sex without relationship falls short of the meaning of one flesh.

heterosexuality is God’s design, not homosexuality

the “not good” of isolation was met by the provision of a woman, who completed and complemented the man.

God’s design is clearly seen in what he did: a like-opposite (corresponding to his opposite)

it celebrates the “otherness” of the opposite sex.

it is the only provision for creativity. (Homosexual relationships cannot be affirmed as anything other than falling short of God’s divine patter. In face, it is a rebellion against His design, gift, and purpose of marriage.

CAUTION:

We must reject homophobia

We must speak love

We must pay attention to the “log” in our eye (there’s no place for judgment in the church)

We must maintain our own sexual purity (hetersexual promiscuity is just as sinful as homosexual sex)

God’s plan is the best (25)

openness

unity that is

not masked (inhibited) by guilt

not disordered by lust

not hampered by shame