Roommates, Bad Dates And Great Mates: Marriage Series

ROOMMATES, BAD DATES & GREAT MATES

Marriage “. . .the two are united into one”

Hello, and welcome once again to The Journey. Last week, in 27 inches of snow, we kicked off this brand new series called Roommates, Bad Dates and Great Mates. Many of you showed up. You were able to make it here last week, and if this is your first time or second time in this series, we are really glad that you are here. Last week, we sort of began this series by looking at this idea of sex “and it was good” and that title there should let you know that this series is rated PG and today’s message is also rated PG, so if you want to take the kids on down to Journey Kidz, right now might be a really good time to do that. Because we are going to dig in and honestly look at what the Bible says about sex. And there is not a prudish note in the Bible. The Bible is never prudish about this issue, so as we began last week, we looked at three big truths regarding sex. I put this whole message on journeyipod.com, if you want to listen to it at any time, but the three truths are:

1. God created sex. And the Bible says that God created sex. Sex and love were God’s ideas. Sex is not dirty. It’s only dirty when we use it against the way that He created it. 2. So what you need to know about sex, is God elevates sex. That was truth number two that we looked at last week. God hold sex in a much higher regard than we do. We tend to pull sex down. We tend to make it low. We tend to drag sex down into the gutter by abusing God’s original plan. 3. And finally, what we talked about last week, when you have sex, according to God’s way, you get God’s blessing on that relationship and God’s plan for sex is one man, one woman, inside of marriage. So, today, that’s what we are going to talk about, how in marriage, two people are united into one.

So if you will, go ahead and find your message notes and find that first verse from the Book of Hebrews. The Bible gives us some very clear advice on marriage. Today, whether you are married, we have something to say to you. Or maybe you are engaged, we have a lot of engaged couples inside of our church, and one of our couples today is getting married, and it’s been kind of a cool weekend because of that. A lot of people are engaged inside of our church. And even if you are single, it is helpful and important that you understand God’s plan for marriage. So I think there will be something for all of us today, regardless of what our background is and what has brought us here. But I want us to begin by looking at Hebrews 13, and let’s read this verse out loud together, as a foundation for this whole message. Are you ready? Here we go. “Honor marriage and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wives and husbands.” Would you circle the two words—honor and guard. And draw a line between those two. God says we are to honor marriage. Just as we do with sex, sometimes we tend to lower the value of marriage. We make marriage into some kind of civil ceremony, instead of some kind of Christian commitment and we are going to talk about that today as well. And then you will see the word—guard. The Bible says you have to be on guard. There is a lot to unpack on that verse, but one of the things about being on guard is that you have to work at it. You have to stay alert. You have to pay attention. You can’t let your guard down. So successful marriages require attention. Successful marriages require work. Successful marriages, while blessed by God, don’t just automatically happen. You can’t be lazy. You have to be proactive. You have to honor and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband. You see, God elevates marriage. Marriage in God’s eyes is an eternal commitment. And God says marriage is a sacred bond. And when we have a marriage God’s way, we get God’s blessing on our marriage. But it is really easy for us to fall into some of these myths regarding marriage. In fact, if you look in your notes, I list three misconceptions of marriage. Let me give you these misconceptions so we can get them out of the way and get on to the truth.

Misconception number one regarding marriage: I have to be married in order to be happy. I hear this all the time. People say—I’ve got to be married if I’m going to be happy. Not true. God never said that you have to be married to be happy. Being single is a perfectly legitimate direction in life. Singleness can be blessed by God. If you are single, you can still get all of God’s blessings on your life. Yesterday afternoon, I turned the television on. Maybe you watched this as well. Jerry McGuire was on television. Remember this movie about Jerry McGuire? I laughed about the “show me the money” part. It’s a really great movie, but you know that part, that line when he walks into the room and he says to the girl—what? You complete me. That makes for great drama in Hollywood, but that’s really bad theology. The idea that you have to have another person to complete you. That’s just not true. God says that you can be happy with or without another person. That singleness can be blessed by God. Look, we did a whole series on happiness about a year ago, called 40 Days with Jesus. We looked at the first few statements in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks about the happy life. This is what Jesus said it takes to be happy. Jesus says, “In order for you to be happy, you have to live God’s best plan for your life.” If you live God’s plan for your life, you are going to be happy and His plan may or may not include marriage. As a matter of fact, I Corinthians 7 says that it is perfectly fine and in some ways more commendable to be single if you can. You may want to read that whole passage in I Corinthians 7, if you have been wondering about—do I have to be married to be happy?