Roles In Marriage Series

Roles in Marriage

Ephesians 5

People have all kinds of opinions on marriage. Sometimes children know best. The following answer came from children ages 5 to 10 years old.

What do most people do on a date?

"On the first date, they just tell each other lies, and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date." (Mike, 10)

How do you decide whom to marry?

"You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming." (Alan, age 10)

How can you make a person fall in love with you?

"Don¡¯t do things like have smelly green sneakers. You might get attention, but attention ain¡¯t the same thing as love." (Alonzo, 9)

How can a stranger tell if you are married?

"You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids." (Derrick, age 8)

When is it okay to kiss someone?

"The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do." (Howard, age 8)

Is it better to be single or married?

"It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them." (Anita, age 9) (bless you child)

"It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I¡¯m just a kid. I don¡¯t need that kind of trouble." (Kenny, 7)

How would you make a marriage work?

"Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a dump truck." (Ricky, age 10)

Has your marriage been everything that you had hoped it would be? That is certainly not the case for Kim Kardashian and her recent marriage with husband NBA player Kris Humphries who 72 days after a ten million dollar lavish public wedding, are now getting divorced over ¡°Irreconcilable differences¡±. Kim said, ¡°I had hoped this marriage would last forever, but sometimes things don¡¯t work out as planned.¡± 72 days is a long way from forever.

Most couples would admit that their marriage has not been all they hoped it would be. We are in a series called Unveiled: God¡¯s Take on marriage and divorce. To help you with your marriage, a study Guide is available online and photocopies of the study are available from the Ushers. We are having some fun on our Facebook page by posting wedding pictures. Check out our Christ Fellowship Facebook page and you may like to add your wedding picture.

Today we are looking at Roles in Marriage from the central New Testament passage on marriage, Ephesians chapter five. If you are single or single again, we believe and affirm the goodness and value of singleness.

What¡¯s the purpose of marriage? To answer that you must put marriage in the context of our mission which is to be, ¡°people who help people find and follow Christ¡±. At Christ Fellowship we are all about Jesus. The point of marriage is to represent Jesus by modeling the Gospel. Together as a couple you are to help people find and follow Christ. For most people this is a very different view of marriage. Most people want to a happy marriage. And that is a good thing. But what¡¯s missing is the mission, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Your marriage represents God to the world. How are you representing him in your marriage? Good marriages are so rare in our world, that when you are faithful and loving in your marriage, you shine like a bright light in a dark room. Get your marriage together for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for the sake of your kids, friends and people around you are watching. How is your marriage helping or hindering the Gospel of the Jesus Christ?

The model for marriage in the New Testament is the relationship between Christ and His Church. In this relationship, Christ is called the Bridegroom and the Church is called the Bride. By looking at this model we find the principles upon which to build our marriages. At Christ Fellowship we are all Bible. We are people guided by the Word. So to discover what God says about marriage, we must dive into his Book, ready to hear and obey what he says. That can be a huge challenge with a topic as touchy as marriage. Let¡¯s have the courage to trust God¡¯s revelation above our own reasoning. The message of Ephesians is that we are to live worthy of our calling.

Overall Context: Live worthy of our calling

Ephesians calls us live lives worthy of our high calling in Jesus Christ. Paul describes our privileges in Christ in the first three chapters. Then chapters 4-6 he describes our responsibilities for Christ. Chapter 4 verse 1 is the hinge verse that connects our privileges with our responsibilities. Paul says, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. A worthy life is to carry out our significant responsibilities for Christ commensurate with our incredible privileges in Christ. It is to live out our true identity, our true calling. The Christian life is simply the process by the Spirit of becoming who you are in Christ.