Tonight's Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:25-31
This Valentines Day were going to look into what a marriage is to God. 77% of Americans were married on 1970, today only 51%. Paul says that the wife is “bound” to her husband as long as he lives (Romans 7:2). The principle is, the husband or wife has to die before the marriage bond is broken. Were have we gone wrong? God cherishes marriage. In today’s society marriage ends in divorce over 51 percent of the time, over half of the couples who make the vow “Till death do us part” break that vow.
How Do We Make It Work?:
What can a married couple do to ensure that their marriage will last?
1.) Obedience to God and His Word: A principle that should be applied before the marriage.
(Amos 3:3) “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?”
For the born-again believer, this means not beginning a close relationship with anyone who is not a believer.
(2 Corinthians 6:14) “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?”
If this one principle were followed, it would save a lot of heartache and suffering later in marriages. Since the woman’s liberation movement began marriage has decreased. We have lost focus on marriage and turned our concerns to self gain, job and money first, then marriage. 77% of unmarried woman have jobs and own their own homes vs. 46% of unmarried men. God created men and woman to work as one, not individually.
2.) The husband should obey God and love, honor, and protect her as he would his own body.
Read Ephesians 5:25-31
The wife should obey God and submit to her own husband “as to the Lord”
(Ephesians 5:22) “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.”
The marriage between a man and a woman is a picture of the relationship between Christ and the church. Christ gave Himself for the church and He loves, honors, and protects her as His “bride” (Revelation 19:7-9)
Becoming One:
When God brought Eve to Adam in the first marriage, she was made from his “flesh and bone” (Genesis 2:21) “So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.”
They became “one flesh” (Genesis 2:23-24) “The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”
Becoming one flesh means more than just a physical union, it means a meeting of the mind and soul to form one unit.
A relationship should go far beyond sensual or emotional attraction and into the realm of spiritual “oneness”, it can only be found if both partners surrender to God and each other.
A relationship is not centered on “me and my” but on “us and our.”
These are the keys to a lasting marriage. Making a marriage last until death is something both partners have to make a priority. Solidifying one's vertical relationship with God goes a long way toward ensuring that the horizontal relationship between a husband and wife is a lasting one. A marriage that honors God.
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