Sermon Tone Analysis

I want to preach to you this morning on A Theology of Marriage.

There has never been a time in American life when such sermons were more needed, since there has never been a time in American life when the institution of marriage has been under such sustained attack.

When it comes to the battle for traditional marriage, the question on many people’s mind is “Can it survive?”

Many Americans don’t think so.

A 2010 Pew Research survey reveals that nearly 40% of U.S. citizens think marriage is obsolete, and that 44% of American under 30 believe that marriage is heading toward extinction.

As with all institutions, the news is a mix of good and bad.

On the bright side, when it comes to married life in America sexual fidelity seems to be on the upswing.

According to research by the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia (2010), Americans have become less tolerant of marital infidelity over the last forty years, and somewhat less likely to stray over the last 20 years.

The report also stated that those who regularly attend religious services of some kind stray least of all.

There is also some good news in regard to divorce: In a news article released just last week, it was reported that the divorce rate in America is trending down.

According to the 2010 Census, 55% percent of all married couples have been married for at least 15 years.

35% have celebrated their 25th anniversaries and a special 6% have made it more than 50 years.

That is good new.

But not all things are rosy.

On the negative side, the marriage rate has dropped in half since 1970, as more and more couples simply decide to live together without the benefit of marriage.

The number of unmarried couples living together soared 12-fold from 430,000 in 1960 to 5.4 million in 2005.

Just six years later, that number has skyrocketed to 7.5 million couples cohabitating.

The majority of Americans now live together before getting married.

Of couples married after 1995, 65 percent of men and women in first-time marriages lived together beforehand.

One result has been a tripling of the number of babies being born outside of wedlock.

Incredibly, 41% of all babies born in America this year will be delivered by single mothers.

Sadly 41% of all first marriages still end in divorce.

The divorce rate in America for second marriages is 60%; the divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73%.

Moral: The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence!

The radical homosexual agenda is also having a negative affect on marriage.

Not that the homosexual population makes up such a large percentage of the populace—it doesn’t, but that their agenda fundamentally seeks to change the traditional, historical, and biblical definition of marriage.

And that puts our culture on a dangerous course.

The last few months have witnessed a sea-change of dizzying proportions in the march toward the normalization of homosexuality within our culture.

The long-standing don’t ask-don’t tell policy that has guided the military in regard to homosexuals within the ranks has been repealed and will summarily be done away with.

The result of lifting the “don’t ask-don’t tell” ban is the continued “legitimization” of the homosexual life-style.

In February of this year, came word of the decision by President Obama’s administration that it will no longer back the federal Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA for short.

In a breath-taking violation of their constitutional duties, the President of the United States and Attorney General Eric Holder, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, have said with one clear voice that a law (DOMA) which limits marriage between a man and a woman is not only wrong but also unconstitutional and they will not defend it.

The problem is that they don’t get to decide which laws are unconstitutional!

The liberal media hailed their decision.

The media would have us believe that if you are persuaded that the message of Genesis, as repeated by Jesus—that marriage from the beginning has been the union of male and female, husbands and wives called to give themselves to each other and to their children—then you are a bad person.

You are a racist, or a homophobe, or a bigot or narrow-minded.

You should be ashamed and publically shamed.

You should, ideally, lose your job.

I guess I’m a bad person, because I believe what Jesus said about marriage!

In this atmosphere, we need to take a fresh look at what the Bible says on the issue.

!

I. THE CREATION OF MARRIAGE

* /“And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”/

(Genesis 2:22–24, ESV)

#. a theology of marriage begins with certain affirmations which relate to God's purposes in marriage

#.

Affirmation #1: Marriage is not a fabrication of man nor a result of man’s social evolution

#.

Affirmation #2: Marriage is a divinely ordained institution designed to meet our most basic needs

!! A. THE FIRST PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE IS TO ALLEVIATE LONELINESS

* /“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”/

(Genesis 2:18, ESV)

#.

God created man as a social being

#.

Adam had a need for a relationship which was not met by the rest of God's creation

#. did you ever wonder why woman was not created at the same time as Adam?

#.

I think God wanted Adam to understand his need for companionship in order that he might appreciate more fully the gift of woman

* ILLUS.

I can picture it in my mind: Adam is naming all the animals.

It's obvious to him that there is a male and a female in each species.

At the end of the process, Adam looks up at God and inquires, "Where's mine?"

#.

Genesis 2:18-23 affirms the institution of marriage as God's remedy for human loneliness

#. the creation account portrays the man choosing the woman as the one among all created beings who is uniquely qualified for life-partnership

#. marriage is the antidote for man's profound sense of loneliness

!! B. THE SECOND PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE IS TO ASSURE PERSONAL FULFILLMENT

#. in Genesis 2:20 we are told that when Adam had named all of the animals that /"for Adam no suitable helper was found."/

#. the word /helper/ comes from a root word which mean /to succor/

#. /succor/ is an archaic word which can also be translated as /aid, help or relieve/

#. the idea is of /going to the aid of another who is in distress/

#.

God created us as needy individuals who cannot—except in rare occassions—find complete satisfaction or fulfillment in singleness

#. those needs include items such as . . .

#. love and companionship

#. sexual oneness and expression

#. reinforcement and encouragement

#. mutuality (a fancy way of saying reciprocal sharing)

#. regardless of what the National Organization of Women contend, God created men and women to complement each other within the marital relationship

#. what is lacking in the nature and character of men is made up for in the nature and character of women and visa versa

#. marriage, therefore is a provision of God for man's well-being

!! C. THE THIRD PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE IS TO PROCREATE AND RAISE CHILDREN

#. in Genesis 1:28 od commands Adam and Eve to /“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth ... “/

#. here is one commandment that men have been thoroughly obedient to

!! D. THE FORTH PURPOSE OF MARRIAGE IS TO BE AN EARTHLY ILLUSTRATION OF CHRIST'S RELATIONSHIP TO HIS CHURCH

* /“In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.

He who loves his wife loves himself.

For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.”/

(Ephesians 5:28–32, ESV)

#. the Apostle Paul here reveals that consistent Christian living touches every phase of life—including marriage and sex

#. ultimately, a wife’s relationship to her husband and a husband’s relationship to his wife are guided by our relationship with Jesus

#. according to this passage the two—not the three, four, five, or six—become one flesh

#. all adultery and promiscuity, by whatever fancy name it may be called, is here condemned

#. but the most important teaching in this passage is found in v. 32

#. the intimate love, companionship and fidelity which should ideally exist between a husband and wife is an earthly example of the spiritual relationship between Christ and his Church

!

II.

THE COVENANT OF MARRIAGE

#. marriage has some basic characteristics outlined in God's word

#. the most important of those characteristics is that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a women which places them in a covenant relationship with each other

#.

covenant is a Biblical theme of major significance

#. its theme is found throughout the Scriptures

#. now, there are two kinds of covenants recognized in the Bible

#. covenants between persons on an equal or mutual basis are /covenants of parity/

#. covenants between unequals, such as between God and man, are known as /covenants of suzerainty/