"I Promise To Make Our Marriage Secure!"

I Promise: To make our marriage secure!

Opening Illustration: Marriage man clips from BluefishTv.com

Thesis: Promising to create a secure marriage between couples is the secret to developing a great marriage that will last a life time.

Opening Thought: Marriage has been under attack for centuries and we need to do our part –with the help of God – to secure our marriages. Listen to these following passages of Scripture addressing the issue of marriage and divorce: Remember they are over 2,000 years old.

Scripture Texts:

Malachi 2:13-17:

13Another thing you do: You flood the LORD’S altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. 14You ask, “Why?” It is because the LORD is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.

15Has not the LORD made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.

16“I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty.

So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.

17You have wearied the LORD with your words.

“How have we wearied him?” you ask.

By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the LORD, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

Matthew 19:3-9:

3Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

4“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ ? 6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

7“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

8Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

James 1: 2-5; 12-14:

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him…12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

13When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.

Introduction:

If you take the time to read these three passages of Scripture it will help you get a clearer picture of the constant assault on the marriage unit. American marriage is under attack by self-centeredness, selfishness, sinful hearts, hardened hearts, and evil desires. But if we desire to fight for our marriages and strive to make them secure we can have a marriage that will last a lifetime. We do need God’s help to win this battle and to secure our marriage units.

I hear a lot about the disintegrating marriage unit in America today from the news and from many other sources – we hear that 50% of all marriages end in divorce and this creates a luminous cloud over the act of marriage in America. But I want you to know that marriages in America - 50% of them are thriving. People really are living happily ever after -50% -of them love being married to their partner!

Readers Digest tells us: Alive and Well:

Inside the American marriage, love, honor, and laughter are still alive. That’s welcome news in an era of broken promises, a divorce rate hovering just below 50 percent, and dire predictions about the "death of marriage" as more and more couples live together and postpone the walk down the aisle -- or never take it at all. When Reader’s Digest asked married women and men across the nation in-depth questions about their attitudes and beliefs about marriage, the results were heartwarming and surprising. In this comprehensive survey, a total of 1,001 respondents said that deep down, they value trust, forgiveness, and good communication much more than whether the housework is fairly divided. Partners told us that fun, laughter, and spending time together are four to five times more important than sex. That they’d marry their spouse all over again. And that divorce isn’t the answer.