The Bond

Intro

In 2013 a lady named Dori Rhoades decided to have a garage sale. A lot of us have done this...

So she gathers us stuff, prices it and puts it outside her Huntington Beach CA home. Does fairly well for the day.

and then panic sinks in.

She had sold an old blue jean jacket for $20. Not a bad deal.

But it had slipped her mind that she had found a great hiding place for her valuables just in case she was ever robbed.

Inside of an old blue jean jacket. Inside it she had over 18k work of Jewelry and $1500 cash.

Needless to say, she was very upset!!

have you ever done something like that??

Mistaken something valuable as ordinary..

I actually think we do it all the time.

We pass by important things, moments, places and don’t realize the value they hold.

There are things that God sets apart, God called holy, Sacred Things.

Ezekiel 22:26

Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

Here God is telling the issues that He has with people who had turned away from him. They still played the part, but were far from him.

One thing is they stopped distinguishing between holy and common. What God said truly mattered, didn’t matter to them anymore.

One of the most holy and sacred things before God that has become ordinary and common in our world is marriage.

We as a people seem to have lost the understand of the value and worth that God give marriage.

It’s like thinking that a diamond is like any other stone or that gold is like any other rock.

Marriage is more important that we think it is.

In the everyday, it’s easy to just see a blue jean jacket, and forget about the treasure inside.

now, I didn’t say getting married is more important than you think.

Don’t need anyone just running out and getting married because of bad hearing.

But the bond, the union and the covenant of two people coming together in marriage is a holy and set apart thing, not just another normal thing.

Our world has devalued it to the point, that it almost seems like it doesn’t matter.

2 of the 10 commandments (god’s moral code) dealt directly with the marriage relationship.

Do not commit adultery, do no covet (your neighbors wife)

1 command deals with the result of a family dynamic - honor your mother and father.

Marriage is sacred.

It is something holy and set apart by God, unique and blessed by him.

In a few minutes I want to speak to a few different groups that should cover everyone here, but first I want us to understand the value and worth of a biblical marriage.

I know that her certain way to fold towels that you can never get right doesn’t seem holy.. but it is.

I know that his endless puns, and passing of gas during sweet moments doesn’t seem holy… but it is.

Ok so many not those things specifically.

The the bond is.

Jesus dealt with this when it came to some religious leaders of his time.

Matt 19:3-8

Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?” “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied, “Moses permitted (allowed) you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.

They saw such little value of marriage, that they wanted an excuse to end it no matter the reason!

But Jesus said have you even read and understand God’s heart for marriage?!?

MARRIAGE IS A MIRROR

Marriage is meant to be a mirror of the image of God himself.

Jesus Goes back to Genesis.

Genesis 1:26-27

“Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 2:24

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

this joining or uniting in the original languages means to bond something or glue it together. Like 2 boards bonded together.

It no longer exists just on it’s own, but now joined BY GOD to function as one.

Male and female to come together, to live and function as one.

Like God himself.

Our image, Our likeness. a plural word.

Because God exists as Father, Son and Spirit but as one.

God created a married couple, to be an image, a likeness, and self portrait of himself on this earth. a mirror of himself.

This is why marriage is a sacred act for us, because it is designed to literally reflect God himself.

Marriage is meant to be a mirror of Christ and his church.

Ephesians 5:31-33

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

It’s a mirror of the bond, love and commitment between Jesus and his church.

What Christ joins to and commits to, he doesn’t abandon.

It’s a picture and mirror of Christ’s love and commitment to us, and us to him!!

Marriage is sacred and set apart to God, it has to be seen as such to us as well.

this is the reason the biblical view of marriage has to be something that matters to us.

Not just in theory and government law, but in how we live everyday.

——————15 min—————-—

As we find the Sacred in Marriage and seek to keep the holiness of Marriage I want to talk to a few groups:

I understand if you don’t fit perfectly into one of these or maybe you fit into a couple...

GROUP 1 PREPARING

you are not married.

I’m not saying that you should live everyday on the lookout and preparing for a wedding...

As much as I believe in the sanctity of marriage I believe in Sacred Singleness.

You are not less holy or more holy because you are married.

Paul actually says this:

1 Cor 7:7-9

I wish that all of you were as I am (single). But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

What a romantic… haha.

But live in a way that is preparing your heart for whatever God wants to do in and through you, spiritually prepared for if/when God sends someone to you.

Or maybe your engaged or dating looking forward to marriage...

1. Live with perspective.

Look to Jesus, Pursue Jesus, Fall in love with him.

He is your completion.

You don’t need a husband or wife to complete you, that’s what Jesus does.

and it that is what your looking for, you will be disappointed!!

Know who you are in Christ!

Jesus completes, a spouse compliments.

2. Live with Purity.

Your purity points to Jesus.

your obedience to keep your eyes and body is set apart in a hyper sexualized world, where sex and sexuality is the norm.

in a world where Identity is literally defined by sexuality.

Sex is a holy act created in the sanctity and unity of marriage.

1 Thess 4:3-5

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God

Purity is so much more than just not having sex, but reserving sexuality and honoring God with every aspect.

If you aren’t living in purity, then you aren’t in God’s plan and provision.

3. Live on purpose.

Live with purpose in each step. You’re not waiting for something future for God to use you in amazing ways today.

How can God use yoru gifts and passions to further his kingdom.

Also, date with purpose.

Every date is to be seen through through sacred purpose of potential marriage.

If they aren’t a believer, they aren’t a fit.

(2 Cor 6:14 Do Not be unequally yoked)

If its leading to impurity, it’s not a fit.

2. GROUP 2 PROTECTING

This is for those who are married.

We have to fight to protect the sacredness of the bond we have entered into.

It matters. It’s special. It’s sacred.

1. Fall in Love with Jesus.

Marriage works when he is the bond and the glue holding you together.

If Jesus has become optional then so has your marriage.

2. Fight for each other.

Have things seemed stale?

Have you started fighting with instead of fighting for?

For for my spouse:

with your words,

Fight to go beyond shallow, actually know them.

Fight for boundaries, some things are not ok.

Fight for their betterment, ( laying yourself down, aside) ( I am not my own)

fight through my own selfishness. You can’t be selfish and have a fulfilling, God honoring marriage.

Fight spiritually,

Fight with yourself, what needs to change in me first?

3. Forgive quickly.

You are one. Every marriage has difficulty and some wounds.

You ever went to the courthouse and had to renew your registration.

They aren’t generally the friendliness, there is a list of requirement, you pay a fee and get a piece of paper.

Unfortunately that’s almost what marriage has become, some transactional thing, with a piece of paper that says were married...

But It’s sacred.

don’t let the enemy destroy what God has set apart.

3. GROUP 3 REPAIRING

there are so many here today that are left in a state of damage.

maybe in your marriage from hurt, decisions etc.

or hurting from a marriage that dissolved.

Just know this, God love you so much.

1. Your marriage may be in a repairing season.

It’s worth it.

Do the hard things.

Lean into Jesus.

Restoration takes 2, but do all you can.

Community, Counseling, Recommitment - whatever it takes.

2. your heart may be in a repairing season.

some of you have been through deep pain, divorce, relational hurt and more.

Allow God to mend the broken pieces of your heart.

don’t allow walls to be build and your heart to become hard.

Go through the season, lean into Jesus. Let him heal.

Process, grieve, forgive yourself and them.

Divorce care.

CONCLUSION

Marriage is sacred. It’s set apart.

Not just another stone, its the diamond.

Not just a blue jean jacket, incredible value.

it’s incredible, beautiful and challenging, but so worth it.

God what you see as sacred, we won’t pass off as common!

Which group are you in today?

What is God speaking to you?