Honoring Marriage

Honoring Marriage

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Hebrews 13:4 NIV

Pam was talking with a lady who had attended our church several times. “Do you have any children?” Pam asked.

“Yes, mam. I have five children.”

“What are their ages and where are they?” Pam inquired.

“The oldest is 14 and she lives with my momma.  She has a little baby now too. The others live with different families. But I gets to see them every now and then.”

“Where you ever married?” Pam

“No mam, I don’t think anyone would ever want to marry me.”

“you know, God’s best design is for a man and a woman to be married and only be with that person all your life.” Pam explained.

“We are not supposed to be with any man who says he likes me?  Mrs. Pam ain’t nobody ever told me that God only wants us to sleep with one man. Do you know anybody who has only slept with one man? I don’t.”

How many people in the church are sexually pure? What does it mean for marriage to be honored by all?

Five ways to honor marriage

1.    Share the original intent – God designed marriage between a man and a woman for a lifetime. Jesus speaking -  Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’  5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?  6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19:4-6 NIV

2.    Speak favorably over marriage – Expect marriages to flourish, don’t speak a curse over a couple wondering how long until they get divorced. 22 He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD. Proverbs 18:22 NIV Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 NIV

3.    Honor long marriages as a norm instead of a rarity.  Talk often of couples who have loved each other through a lifetime.  Paul Harvey celebrated lifetime couples often in his broadcast.  28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— Ephesians 5:28-29 NIV

4.    Don’t be silent when marriage is ridiculed.  This does not mean that you have to be argumentative or combative. If someone were talking negative about your wife, you would speak up to defend her honor.  God established marriage as the foundation of all social order. When marriage crumbles, society will soon follow.  Healthy marriages establish children with strong character. But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. I Peter 3:15-16 NIV

5.    Divorce is a beginning for restoration, and not a scarlet letter of a subclass Christian.  God hastes divorce, but He also hates all sin. God is into reconciling broken hearts and lives. We plead for God’s mercy to stop the destructive cycle of divorce in our culture. Many people have had wonderful long second marriages.  Others have experienced multiple divorces and decided to live with people instead of marrying again.

May the church recapture the grace message for broken lives. At the same time may we encourage one another to live to the higher standards that bring liberty and freedom to our lives. “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you Deuteronomy 5:16.

The devil hates marriage which is one reason it is under attack.  The power of unity within a marriage is incredible.  Jesus said that when two agree good things begin to happen. Couples can agree even when things are difficult.  They can pray over their finances, for tough job situations, for children that have gone astray, for wisdom in making decisions about jobs and moving, and about working through their own conflicts. A strong marriage has conflict, but its strength comes from the bonds woven together with the cords of forgiveness, love and preferring one another as more important than themselves.

If the church wishes to gain a strong moral voice in society once again, it will start with a renewed portrayal of honoring marriage.

This is most evident by keeping the marriage bed undefiled or pure, which will be discussed in the next blog.