“The Mandate for Marriage”
Scripture Reading
Hebrews 13:4 “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.”
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I. The Truth about the Marriage Mandate
a. It’s source – What is the truth about marriage? First, it must be acknowledged by any reasonable objective person that for the last 3,500 years of human history (since the introduction of written records) there was only one definition of marriage and that all attempts to re-define marriage are recent comparatively speaking, that is these efforts are less than 100 years old. The biblical definition was the only definition during all of this time. God ordained that marriage was to be between one man and one woman, period.
Matthew 19:4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
There are several truths established by what Jesus teaches here; First, notice that from the “beginning” God made them male and female, that is, He established a difference in the genders of these first two human beings. Second, in verse 5 we have four terms that are significant, father, mother and man, wife. This male and female are to live together as man and wife and in procreation (one flesh) they are to be father and mother. A third truth is that they are not to be parted by anything but death.
Friends, God has given the mandate for marriage in His word and not me or you, or any person, even the president of the United States has the right or the authority to define or re-define this mandate. We have a biblical model for marriage and any departure or deviation from this model has consequences for us and for the culture at large.
b. It’s sanctity
God’s plan for sex includes 1 man and 1 woman, within the marriage relationship.
Over $450 million will be spent this year on sex-ed, most of it centering on what has become known as “safe sex”. There is no sex safer than sex within God’s plan!
The world’s version of safe sex is not based on morality at all. Their theme is: “if you can’t be good, then be careful”. (Jerry Shirley)
God’s Word and will concerning this subject is clear.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
If marriage is to be honored by all and is blessed by God then also is the “bed undefiled and should be kept that way.” What does this mean? Bed is (koite) in Greek and refers to the marriage bed, to sexual union. God blessed the sexual relationship between a man and woman within the bonds of marriage. In Eden, prior to the fall, Adam and Eve had no sense of guilt with regard to their spiritual, emotional, and physical relationship. Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Guilt only came with sin. But within the bonds of marriage that same innocent and beautiful relationship can still be enjoyed. There is absolutely no stain, no defilement, to the sexual relationship of a husband and wife in the bonds of marriage. FWB Commentary on Hebrews p. 358
c. It’s symbolism
Ephesians 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
II. The Transgression of the Marriage
Mandate
a. The attacks – We should not be surprised that the biblical model is under assault. The practice of polygamy is not new and was common among many of the patriarchs, but from the beginning it was not so! The Bible doesn’t try to hide the fact that when Godly men and women rebelled against the mandate for marriage that they paid a high price for their failure. Abraham, Jacob, David and Solomon all suffered because of their failure to adhere to the Divine mandate for marriage, but from the beginning it was not so. Of Solomon it is said;
1 Kings 11:3 And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart.
We all know the effects of divorce on marriage in our culture but many do not realize that divorce is not a new phenomenon. Listen to what Jesus had to say about his subject;
Matthew 19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?
8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
There were two schools of thought among the Jews of Jesus day concerning divorce. The Shemai school was very conservative and the Hillel school was very liberal in its teachings about divorce. The Hillel school said that said that a man could “put away” his wife for almost any reason. If she raised her voice and the neighbors heard it or if she seasoned the food wrong he could write her “a bill of divorcement.
In the early days of Christianity, marriage was being attacked from two different directions. One was an unlikely source. There was a growing movement within the church towards asceticism which taught celibacy or the state of being unmarried which at the time was thought to be the way to promote personal holiness. Anyone alive on planet earth today is bound to be aware of the problems with a coerced standard of celibacy. The Catholic Church has been in the grips of an ever broadening scandal for the last 25 years due to the sexual sins of its priests and church officials. Paul warns about those who try to forbid marriage.
1 Timothy 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
The second attack was coming from those who disregarded God’s demands for sexual purity, both before and after marriage. Again, I would like to quote from the FWB commentary on Hebrews p. 358; “As in our day however, even then there were those who had no regard for God’s strict limitations on sexual relations. We are living in a day where there are those who are attacking the biblical model for marriage.
1 Peter 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
b. The antagonists
Biblical morality is laughed at, belittled, called archaic, and old-fashioned.
Entertainment: Rarely in daytime TV will you see lovers who are married to each other. (evening sit coms as well) If it’s not pre-marital sex it’s extra-marital sex…
Advertising: Sex is the #1 seller of everything from beer to perfume to jeans, toothpaste, and breakfast cereal.
“appeal to mankind’s baser instincts”
In the ‘60’s, Hugh Hefner said, “sex is a normal function of the body, it is a desire that man shares w/ the animals, just like sleeping or eating, therefore it is not wrong to satisfy these normal desires”.
Society has swallowed that philosophy, hook, line, and sinker. “Just throw off all your inhibitions, and if it feels good, do it.”
Many of you know that my favorite football player is Roger Staubach who was the Heisman Trophy winner from the Naval Academy and super bowl MVP for the Dallas Cowboys back in their glory days. Staubach played at the same time as another star quarterback by the name of Joe Namath. Namath had a reputation as a party guy and womanizer. A news reporter asked Staubach is he was the least bit envious of Namath’s reputation with women? I will never forget Staubach’s reply. He said, “I have as much or more sex as Joe Namath, it’s just all with one woman.”
2 Peter 2:10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Jude 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
Who are the antagonists of traditional biblical marriage today? It is easy to compile a list, for they are the usual suspects. The liberal wings of both major political parties, groups like NOW, and GLAD, and sadly churches who reject the inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures. Of great concern to me are the public statements of many of our leaders in government who for political gain have come out recently in favor of so-called gay marriage.
c. The actions
What type of behaviors are outside God’s mandate for marriage?
1. Polygamy
2. Divorce except for the cause of adultery
3. Co-habitation; there are more couples living together in our culture than are married.
4. So called gay marriage
The tragedy in all of this is that whenever we deviate from the biblical model we always end up with less than God’s best for us because these deviations are rooted in sin and self! We who are in the church must take a stand by the marriage mandate we find in God’s Word. We must stand in our talk and particularly in our walk.
