Strait And Narrow Sermon V: Christians Rejoice At Their Choice Series

CHRISTIANS REJOICE AT THEIR CHOICE OF A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN

Christians who enjoy life to the fullest love to socialize. If Jesus ever turned down an invitation to a banquet, the Bible does not say so. He showed up at the homes of the rich and famous, at every Jewish feast, and frequented the homes of ordinary folks.

His most famous social outing was the Wedding Feast at Cana where He performed His first miracle – turning the water into wine. A good time was had by all I’m sure!

God our Creator meant for His people to be happily engaged in friendships - but also relationships of the intimate kind! Thus, God created two persons of the same human qualities, yet distinctively different! God created man, then woman. When He presented the woman to the man, Adam said, “Wow!”

Joking aside, Adam exclaimed how delighted he was to have an “ishshah” – a unique human “corresponding” to him - to be his “helper”. (The Hebrew word for “helper” is the same word often used to refer to the “help” or the “support” provided by the Lord God to His chosen people! So, Adam saw Eve as God-like – an angel!

God created them separately in His image but, in keeping with His plan and purpose for mankind, He joined them together (united them) as one in a bond of mutual love - a physical-social-spiritual union which the civilized world would call “marriage” – derived from Latin “matrimony” (“mother role or status”)! The Lord God united them in matrimony (mother-making) and awarded them a Honeymoon in Paradise . . . !

Marriage celebrations in the time of Jesus lasted several days, initiated at the close of the betrothal period by a parade beginning at the home of the bride, ending at the home of the groom. Merry making began shortly thereafter and continued until the day of the wedding.

Likewise, weddings in our day are stretched out over a long period of time, considering all the planning that goes into a Church Wedding followed by a Reception. If your husband was (is) anything like my wife’s husband, you probably would agree that the best part of a wedding for a man is the party! All the rest is drudgery! Nonetheless, everyone puts a lot of time, energy and money into making it the best!

As for you and me, it could be said that the best is yet to be! For most of us, our weddings occurred long ago . . . We cherish the memories as we reflect on the “best years of our lives”. Some of us are still in the process of making memories!

Whether long ago or still in process, we cling to the marriage IDEAL which the Lord our God initiated – a great IDEA (a great gift of intimacy for the making of other great gifts – precious babies created in the image of God for growing and developing in wisdom and stature . . . for becoming mature persons rightly related to God and others.

Our printed lesson topic suggests we are living in a day when “marriage” is being “questioned”. Politics woven into the conversation confuses a lot of people. The Supreme Court’s unwise ruling on gay marriage made matters worse.

As a minister who has officiated at many weddings over a sixty-year span, no one ever “questioned” a marriage performed by me – at least not at the time of the ceremony. “If there is anyone who can show just cause why these two persons should not be joined in holy matrimony, let him or her now speak or forever hold their peace.” Silence!

In today’s murky climate of political correctness, however, methinks the question that could be asked of me might be: “Why did you decline to “marry” two “gay” individuals who say they love each other?”

In the beginning God created man and woman, male and female created He them, then - Genesis 2:18-25 . . . The concept of joining (uniting) two persons into one bond of love for the purpose of procreation as well as pleasure is as old as Creation itself, intended by the Lord our God to be lived out in time, but also, to simulate that future union of the Bridegroom and His Bride prophesied to occur in the hereafter when time shall be no more. That IDEAL God-ordained Union which we call Marriage” was:

Initiated and instituted by the Lord God our Creator . . .

Designed and defined by Him as the union of one man and one woman . . .

Entered into by one man and one woman, to love and to cherish . . .

Avowed by Jesus to be sacrosanct . . .

Likened by Christ in The Revelation to the Marriage of the Lamb . . .