2 Timothy 3:12-17
12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
“I Do Part 4 – For Better or For Worse”
If you are a fan of YouTube, or a fan of Good Morning America, the Today show, or even CNN… it’ a very good possibility that you have already seen today’s sermon illustration… I present to you, possibly the greatest way to begin your life together.
JK Wedding Entrance
Now THAT is what I call a good start. How many of you did that at your wedding? And I must say… in this day and age… marriages can use every bit of help they can get.
•According to a recent Gallup poll, 73% of Americans, under age 45, believe that life spent with the same partner is both unusual and unnecessary.
•Six out of ten children live in a single parent household.
•The cost of the average divorce is $19,365.00.
•In the average divorce, women and children suffer a 73% decline in their standard of living.
•The death rate for divorced men 35-60 years of age is 130% higher than their happily married counterparts.
•When commitment breaks down, so do marriages.
I think about this couple on our video… think about all couples on their wedding day. Usually this is a happy day, a splendid day. A day where we take photos that we can look back on with great fondness. It’s also a day where we make serious vows to our spouses.
When a couple gets married… they usually make vows to one another and to God… and many of you probably made the traditional vows to one another when you said “I do.”
"I, (Name), Take you, (Name), To be my (wife/husband);
To have and to hold, From this day forward, For better, for worse, For richer, for poorer, In sickness and in health, To love and to cherish, As long as we both shall live."
Quite often, I don’t think married couples hear that part of the message. When they say “for better or for worse” they think “well I don’t need to worry about the ‘for worse’ part… everything is going to go perfectly so I don’t have to worry about the for worse part.” When they say “for richer, for poorer” they think… “Well we are going to be SOOOO rich, we’ll never argue over money.” I mean… nobody here has every argued about money right? “In sickness and in health”… “we are both so young and healthy.” “To love and to cherish…” “Oh, they are so going to love and cherish me… at least they better!” I can say “I do” to that.
And then the next day is the end of the wedding and the beginning of a marriage. One thing I tell all of the couple that I marry is that every single marriage is imperfect… every single marriage has problems… every single marriage takes work. There will come a day when you won’t be able to stand the sight of the other person… and all of a sudden they begin thinking this is not what I signed up for.
Anyone who’s been married any length of time will be able to tell you that NOT every day will be sunshine, butterflies, and roses! It just doesn’t work that way. Far too often we expect things to be perfect, of romantic love being there every second of every day… and then comes the day where you can’t agree… where you can’t get along… you begin to think “This isn’t what marriage is supposed to be about!” Is it any wonder then that with these high expectations… so many marriages end in divorce?
There will be days when his socks on the floor become TOO much. Days when her talking to you about your socks on the floor becomes TOO much. It is on those days that we need to remember what marriage ACTUALLY is “For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as we both shall live.”
I’ve told every single couple I’ve married this one small piece of advice, there has never been a wedding where something hasn’t gone wrong… but at the end… the couple is still married. Marriage can work that way too… there has never been a marriage where something hasn’t gone wrong… but at the end of the day… this is still the person you’ve decided to be married to… to be committed to… forever.
In our scripture text this morning… the apostle Paul is talking about something very similar. For the last three weeks we have been comparing our lives and our walk with Christ to that of a marriage. Today, the same lesson we’ve been discussing about marriages fits extremely well in our Christian lives.
2 Timothy 3:12-17
12 In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13 while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the men and women of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
When we sign up as Christians, we need to know that not every day is going to become perfect and easy. In fact, Paul says that by singing up to be Christians, we are inviting trouble into our lives. The path is not easy, the road is not smooth, there are trials and troubles ahead for every single one of us… times when we wont like what is happening… times when we will hate what is going on… times when we will say “This is NOT what I signed up for.”
In marriage or in our Christian walk… we need to remember what it is all about… when times of trouble come (and they will come) when we have a partner… when we have Christ by our side… we never walk alone.
I’m going to leave you with some statistics to ponder…
•1 out of 3 marriages end in divorce.
•1 out of 50 marriages end in divorce if the couple had a church wedding.
•1 out of 105 marriages end in divorce if the couple attends church regularly.
•1 out of 1,155 marriages end in divorce if the couple attends church regularly and has family devotions.
It makes a difference… when we make a commitment and stick to it.
"Do you, Christian, Take Jesus Christ, To be your Lord and Savior;
To have and to hold, From this day forward, For better, for worse, For richer, for poorer, In sickness and in health, To love and to cherish, As long as we both shall live."
If so please respond, I do!
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
