Marriage And God's Plan

Marriage and God’s Plan

Pastor Glenn Newton April 25, 2004

Text: HEB 13:4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

25 years ago a Pastor would not have even thought about talking about what I’m going to talk about this morning. I’m not going to spend the whole message on it, but today we are waged in a culture war, and what was unthinkable just 20-25 years ago we are watching come to pass. What am I talking about you ask? The Institution of Marriage is under attack by the “homosexual” agenda, and those forces that would like to undermine God’s Word and His authority.

Let me make it clear where we stand, the Church of the Nazarene takes a very strong stand against homosexuality, it’s a sin plainly stated in Scripture, it’s a person’s choice to live in that sin. It can be forgiven… Amen? We stand up against sin, we love people… we understand that difference don’t we? Many homosexuals are being saved and coming out of that sinful lifestyle, and we say Praise God for that…. But there are those who would take their sinful lifestyle and attempt to push it into our culture as being normal, and even as being some kind of civil right.

This issue came to a head in late 2003, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s unelected, anaccountable judges essentially mandated that the state legislature enact a law that would make homosexual “marraiage” a reality.

Then in February of this year. San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom took things a step farther when he authorized city officials to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Thousands of gays and lesbians from around the world descended on the courthouse in an effort to have their unions “recognized.” The mayor’s decision to grant bogus marriage licenses was particularly disturbing because if flew directly in the face of California’s Proposistion 22 which provides that only marriage between a man and a women is valid in the state. That proposition passed by an overwhelming majority of 61% of the voters in 2000.

Where do we stand now? Our President has responded to this chaos by voicing his support for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one women. This amendment would keep State Supreme Courts and Radical Mayors from trying to force their ungodly ideas about marriage into our lives and in the lives of those in our country. I challenge you to get involved in this fight for a Biblical definition of marriage and study for yourself what’s going on, and pray that our leaders will have the guts to stand up for truth and pass this Constitutional amendment supporting a Biblical view of marriage.

Why is all this important? Because this will affect your family, and my family. The study of history and anthropology tells us that no human society, ancient or modern, has ever sustained itself by embracing a family model that deviates from God’s design.

This morning, let’s talk about marriage and God’s plan for us.

“GE 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

GE 2:23 The man said,

"This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called `woman,’

for she was taken out of man."

GE 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

God’s plan from the very beginning was for man to have a helper, a soul-mate, someone to share life with. This union was special, it is ordained by God. In verse 24, it says this, 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

One of the things that makes marriage so important is the covenant relationship that the couple enters into. When two people come together to be married, it’s not a contract… it’s not like we are signing a rental agreement…. Where if you break your side of the deal, then I can break my contract and were done. That’s exactly how many people approach marriage, and that is wrong, that’s not what God has intended at all.