God's View of Marriage

Ephesians 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.  22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.  24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.  25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.  29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body.  31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.  33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

One thing we ought to keep in mind is that much of what we have come to believe about marriage has come from the world's R-rated point of view.  

Can I just tell ya something?  God's view of marriage is a far cry different than the world's view!  

One of the most significant cornerstones of a strong marriage and resulting strong family is two people who have decided to make their marriage last... til death do they part!  I'm talking about a husband and wife who make some choices in their lives:

• to honor their commitment to each other and their family
• to purpose in their hearts to strive to make their marriage strong and lasting
• to honor the covenant they made before God when He joined them together as one flesh

I have often said, taught, and preached that strong marriages begin with a husband and wife who are committed to each other.  It sounds reasonable... like a good place to start.  I know right?

One glaring problem is you won't find much about that in the Bible.  In fact, the word commitment isn't even in the Bible.  Not in the OT.  Not in the NT.  I do however, find the word commit in a few verses.

Here are a couple of examples:  

"Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed." 

~Proverbs 16:3

"Commit your way to the LORD, trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun." 
~Psalm 37:5-6

Notice who the object of the "commit" is here in these two verses?  Yeah, me too.

Can I just tell ya something?  That, my friends, is in fact, the best place to start for building a strong marriage and resulting strong family.  Consider the strength and power of two equally yoked oxen.  They do not face each other but face ahead.  Therein the lies the success of a strong marriage.  It is two people facing the Father together, committing their ways to the Lord, trusting in Him.  God will honor that commitment making their righteousness shine like the dawn.

Hey, can I just tell ya something?  A strong Christian marriage IS BUILT on the commitment a husband AND wife have to God the Father.

This entry is taken from the sermon: "Til Death Do Us Part".  Click the link to listen to the entire sermon.  This is the second sermon in a series.  The entire sermon series audio is available here:  

BLINDERS, BLINKERS, & WINKERS SERMON SERIES