Pursuing Godly Marriages: Reflecting Divine Design

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Well, our topic is "Pursuing Godly Marriages," and I think all of us realize from the oldest to, probably, the very youngest, that this is a topic of immense significance in the times in which we are living, but it is also always a very sensitive topic for us, because as we come to a conference like this in the numbers in which we do, we come in varied conditions in relationship to marriage. [00:00:51]

We live, of course, in a very unusual and stressful cultural moment. Many people who are Christian believers of my generation constantly say to me, "How can this have happened so quickly?" But the truth of the matter, the distortions of marriage and gender and sexuality that have taken place have not in fact happened as quickly as we imagine. [00:03:22]

And this is exactly what has happened in relationship to issues of gender and sex and marriage in our own time. Undoubtedly, there has been a strategy begun and often masterminded by intellectuals essentially to do one thing, to tear God from His throne. And, therefore, as a result to inevitably begin to deconstruct every single one of His creation ordinances. [00:05:11]

And even those who say they hate the message of the Christian gospel and hate what this couple profess to believe, find themselves confronted with this beautiful reality that they see in this married couple an echo of how life was originally meant to be, and they themselves in our neighborhoods where we work, as they see the re-creation that God is working in the marriages of Christians begin to feel a thirst in their throats because we are the salt of the earth and our marriages make them thirsty for such a marriage. [00:09:22]

And it is for this reason that when we get married, one of the simplest and most important things for us to understand is, that while marriage is not a sacrament of the gospel, it is a beautiful presentation of the story of creation, and because it is a powerful representation of the story of creation and how marriage was originally intended to be your wedding service. [00:12:38]

In biblical marriage, in the Reformation tradition, the first reason for marriage is deep companionship, Genesis 2:18, these beautiful words, "It is not good that the man should be alone." Interesting, isn't it? It is only when God has created the man and the woman that everything is very good. This is the capstone of creation. And what it is intended for is this deep companionship. [00:14:32]

Now, yes, there is such a phenomenon as romantic love, but no solid marriage is ever going to be built on romantic love. Solid marriages are based on best friendships, on this kind of companionship, where we can gaze upon one another in the knowledge that we share a secret union that none else shares, and there is someone who is there for us. [00:15:19]

And that is rather curious, isn't it? I mean he is not a single day old yet, but the "at last" refers not so much to "How has it taking You so long to bring this beauty to me?" but the fact that this woman is the last of a long line of, kind of, potential best friends. [00:19:08]

And the beauty of regeneration in the life of a married couple is, both of them are present. I mean if they were to turn on all the lights and the men were able to go around every single woman here, it would only be eventually when they find their wives that they would say, "At last." [00:22:17]

And, of course, that is one of the beauties that we see in real marriage, the sense of help, the sense of being fitted to one another, clicking, the sense that we belong together. [00:25:02]

And, then, of course, the fourth element is the element of covenant commitment. And we find that, don't we here in verse 24? "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife." You know, one of the reasons for the transformation in marriage statistics: they are not so much that people cease to believe in marriage, but that people became so self-obsessed that they were unwilling to make a radical commitment to another human being. [00:26:24]

And this, of course, is exactly what happens in Genesis chapter 3, the disintegration of the relationship, the disintegration of the family, and then the disintegration of society. And you are not out of chapter 4 before you discover a scenario that is so reminiscent of today, of adultery and of violence and of the disintegration of God's very best gift. And we need to begin to recover this story. [00:29:23]

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