God's Design for Marriage
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Marriage - A Sacred Institution
Marriage - A Sacred Institution
4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Matthe1
Second message in our sermon series “Family Matters” entitled God’s design for the family.
In talking about the beautiful institution of marriage, I wanted to start off with the perspective on marriage from the master Himself. The Lord Jesus:
4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
We may very well call this passage, which is also found in , God’s authorship of Marriage.
Do you believe that God is good?
Do you believe that everything that God makes is beautiful? What about perfect?
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
My prayer is for all of you this morning that you will look at marriage in a different way, according to God’s perfect design and purpose. To those who are married that you will cherish it the way God does and you will love your spouse in a different way.
Last week I said:
“There are no Dysfunctional Families, Only Dysfunctional people”.
The same is true with marriages.
The reason I believe that is because:
Our perfect God is also a perfect designer.
Image of McLaren F1 here.
The McLaren F1 is considered as one of the best engineered cars ever made. A true technological masterpiece, the McLaren F1 is considered the ultimate supercar and also regarded by some to also be the most beautiful cars in all of history. Its top speeds reach 241 mph thanks to a weight-saving and aerodynamic design that promise stability even at very high speeds. 627 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque, and a price tag of guess what? $13 million.
Even with its perfect design, its owner won’t experience the full benefits of this car if he drives it with a top cruising speed of 80 miles per hour. Well, it is not designed so you can just cruise on E470 within the legal speed limit. That’s what setis it apart from, well, my 2005 Honda Odyssey.
The perfectly engineered car’s engine might even be damaged if we put regular jiffy lube oil.
Why would someone even think of saving money to change the oil of a 13 million dollar car and ultimately damage it? That is stupid!
Why would we not invest on something that is worth so much value?
Worse, it will even stop running if you fill it with diesel fuel instead of gas.
Even a perfectly designed car will not run if its owner does not understand the importance of putting the right fuel.
People fail in marriage because:
They do not invest in taking care of it.
They don’t follow God’s design for it.
6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
What a beautiful thing that God designed. Talk...
Why won’t people invest into something that is so priceless?
People don’t see the true value of marriage.
You know what the problem is?
Husbands and wives assess the value of their marriages according to the filter of their own personal happiness.
Sorry to disappoint, those of you who are married, marriage is not only about your personal happiness.
You see happiness is fleeting, if that is the barometer of the health of your marriage, the moment your imperfect spouse fails, you will be very disappointed.
Seeing the purpose of marriage as only to bring personal happiness is already flawed. If a husband or a wife has this view about marriage, marriage can actually stand in the way of personal happiness.
Marriage is only lined up with our list what we call the “pursuit of happiness”.
The “basic” pursuit of happiness:
i. A comfortable life.
ii. A stable job/steady income
iii. A flourishing career/Thriving business
iv. Happy Marriage
v. Education for our children
vi. Comfortable Retirement
What’s wrong with this picture? I am not talking to those who are called to be single for a lifetime and obviously those who are widowed or divorced.
Society has so devalued marriage that is just included in a list of pursuits of happiness instead of being the atmosphere or even the foundation for it.
That is a low view of marriage.
That is a low view of marriage.
Object Lesson.
Books.
It becomes a matter of priority. What is more important to you? If the most important source of happiness falls down, the rest of these, including your marriages gets toppled down.
2. How do people miss God’s design for marriage?
4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
A man shall leave his father and mother - in the Biblical context that means leaving everything and starting a new life. People miss out on the sacrifice and turning of our lives around for the sake of marriage.
There is a spiritual transformation that happens, a life of singlehood, personal dreams, goals and aspiration gives way to the joining of two lives leading to a powerful union.
And because it is God Who started that union, no man will ever separate it.
Then husband and wife will face a future together to fulfill God’s purpose. What is God’s purpose for marriage?
According to Dr. Tony Evans:
Image for Purpose of Marriage here...
Marriage is a covenantal union designed by God to enable both partners to fully live out their divine purpose for being. Tony Evans
This seems to be a harmless sentence, but it is actually packed with power. Look at these words:
“fully live out”
“purpose for being”
I cannot agree with Dr. Evans more, God wants us to fully live out our divine purpose for being through our marriage.
That means:
God must be glorified in our marriages
God’s Kingdom should be built through our marriages
God is glorified when we experience the abundant life in our marriages.
How doe we miss out on the abundant life?
When we misuse God’s design. One example is sex.
God designed sex as a sacred intimacy between husband and wife.
Sex is not the purpose of marriage, but rather it serves a spiritual purpose.
Sex:
It is a mirror of our own unbridled intimacy with the Father.
It leads to spiritual intimacy.
Spiritual Intimacy
A sense of unity and mutual commitment to God's purpose for our lives and marriage, along with a respect for the special dreams of each other's hearts.
Spiritual intimacy is a sense of unity and mutual commitment to God'spurpose for our lives and marriage, along with a respect for the special dreams of each other's hearts.
Like any other good thing, sex in marriage becomes misused two ways:
By making it the sole purpose of marriage.
By defiling it outside the marital relationship
2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this.
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? 3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! 4 So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? 5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, 6 but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
1 Corinthians
Note: It is a concession, not a command.
Marriage is a means of enjoyment for the husband and the wife, but was also given to sanctify us — sinful nature.
What about for those that believe that marriage is only for procreation? “Be fruitful and multiply.”
4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
What about for those that believe that marriage is only for procreation? “Be fruitful and multiply.”
I explained last week… but if we have a Kingdom perspective of marriage, we will let God use our marriage as a partnership between husband and wife to spiritually populate heaven.
Do you ever wonder why Satan only attacked Adam when Eve came along? One can only speculate… he listened to the wife!
Priscilla and Aquila.
Known for their partnership with the work of the Kingdom and spreading the gospel.
Their names Priscilla and Aquila have become inseparable and memorialized among the pantheon of Christian heroes forever.
They were a team!
They had a supreme understanding of the gospel. Another way they partnered is with their hospitality.
I believe God wants marriages to Spiritually populate heaven.
What about our personalities?
I am so glad that God has a prescription for that too!
22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
This is a lesson in itself, but today, it is foundational that we understand the fundamentals of marriage.
Since marriage is a divine institution designed by God...
Invest in your priceless marriage.
Don’t miss out on God’s purpose for you.
Husband and wife:
Heavenly Father. Thank you for your gift of my marriage. Thank you for your perfect design and since you have designed it, I receive it as a priceless gift. Forgive us of our shortcomings. For our false views and expectations. Teach us to value it by investing of our lives to it. We give our marriage back to you, so that you will carry out your divine purpose. Turn my marriage into a holy partnership for the building of your Kingdom.Teach us to love and respect each other. Empower us to Glorify Your Name through my marriage, for better or worse. Till death do us part and you take us home to be with you in glory. In Jesus’ Mighty Name. Amen!
Pray for them and those who are going through divorce..