Joyfully Ever After

‘Scenes from an Italian Restaurant’ is a song by Billy Joel that tells the saga of Brenda and Eddie two popular high school students who decided to take their high school romance to the next level and get married. Sadly, Brenda and Eddie just didn’t count on the tears and so as a matter of course they got a divorce.

How many people do we know who become attracted and infatuated with each other, enjoyed a precious romance, beautiful wedding day and inevitable sad divorce? How many people do we know who like Brenda and Eddie didn’t count on the tears? How many folks do we know who live in a nice style for a little while, and then as a matter of course end up in divorce? Why is a divorce such a matter of course for many who get married?

How many of us have either gotten married or plan to get married with only a vague idea as to the Biblical purposes and reasons for marriage? Should we only get married to satisfy our sex drive or thirst for companionship? Why did you get married or why do you want to get married? Why did you marry your spouse, or if you’re courting someone now why would you want to marry that person? What did or do you expect from your marital union? Did you get married to pursue God’s purposes for marriage or like Brenda, Eddie and millions of others did you have a vague notion of being happy and thought that problems and issues would somehow work themselves out? How did you or how are you preparing for marriage?

This morning’s message will touch on three of the purposes for marriage found in Scripture. Focusing on these purposes for marriage may help us to not end up like Brenda and Eddie as we look beyond our own satisfaction to founding a relationship rooted in God’s glory. Moreover, it is by seeking God’s glory first and primarily in life and marriage that we can best experience a marriage in which we live joyfully ever after.

God created marriage to spread godliness throughout the earth
God created marriage so to provide meaningful companionship
God created marriage to reflect His relationship with His people

I. God created marriage to spread godliness throughout the earth – Gen. 1:26-31.

Mankind, i.e. male and female are created in God’s image. We were created as relational, rational and moral creatures.God created us to spread godliness throughout the earth through covenant families. Thus, one of the prime reasons for getting married is to have children that will fill God’s earth with godly offspring. God created us to spread His love throughout the earth. God created us to spread His worship and knowledge throughout the earth. He created us to spread godly culture throughout the earth, Col. 1:16.

Is the aim of your life now to spread godliness throughout the earth? Do you make conscious choices in light of how they enable you to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are you an active follower of Jesus or merely a casual church attender? If spreading godliness and seeking God’s glory is not your primary agenda, then what is? Does your spouse or the one you’re seeking to marry know this?
Did you get or do you plan to get married primarily to seek your own happiness or are you primarily hoping to pursue God’s glory in your union? To bring glory to God is to acknowledge, demonstrate and display God’s significance, beauty, wisdom, love and power in Jesus Christ through our worship, witness and walk before Him.

God created marriage so to provide meaningful companionship – Gen. 2:18-20.

God saw that man needed an ally, i.e. a close intimate companion to share his life and work. Cf. Psalm 121:1-2.
Marriage is the relationship in which they worship and grow to know the Lord together and share the significant issues of life together.
It is a relationship in which they work together to carry out God’s mandate to spread godliness and compliment each other in their walk with the Lord.

Did you get married or are you planning to marry in order to provide meaningful companionship to someone? Are you the kind of person who always has to have the attention focused on you? Brothers, do you view your wives or intended wives as intimate allies or simply warm bed companions?
Did you get or are you planning to get married so that you might enjoy a lifetime of having someone disclose themselves to you?

God created marriage to reflect His relationship with His people – Gen. 2:21-25.

Woman was created from apart of the man, thus establishing a special connection between them, vs. 21. (In a sense, it cost man something to receive his bride) In a similar manner, Christ paid the price of His life for His bride.
1Pet. 1:18-19, For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

God gives the woman to the man as a special gift, vs. 22. Likewise we’ve been given to Christ as His for eternity, John 10:29. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

Man recognizes that this is a unique and special relationship, vs. 23.
The church of Christ is the only human institution that enjoys a unique and gracious relationship with Jesus Christ, Eph. 2:19-22. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

God institutes marriage as the primary human relationship, vs. 24.
Men should expect to leave their parents home and establish a covenant home just as Christ left His Father to get His wife, Eph. 5:29-32. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- for we are members of his body. "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.

God has designed the marital relationship to bring a level of fulfillment and satisfaction that no other human relationship can, vs. 25.
This satisfaction is similar to the holistic salvation the church enjoys in its marriage to Christ, Hosea. 2:19-20. I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.

Are you pursuing a marriage that reflects Christ’s relationship with the church or are you locked in a power struggle? Can we trust God to bless us to live joyfully ever after by pursuing the biblical purposes of marriage?

Following God's purposes for marriage won't guarantee a trouble free relationship, but may prevent us from ending up like Brenda and Eddie. By God's grace, power and love His people can live in blessed matrimony joyfully ever after.

To Him Who Loves Us...

Pastor Lance