Peace Lutheran Church
Pastor Steinbrenner
October 19, 21, 22, 2006
Pentecost 20
A Couple Things You Should Know about Marriage:
Marriage is a gift from God
Marriage delivers blessings to God’s people
INTRO: You’re sitting on your couch watching TV and a commercial comes on. It starts off with this line: “If
you’re a senior citizen and you’re experiencing stiffness in your joints, here’s what you should know…” Well, if
you’re not a senior citizen and if you’re not experiencing stiffness in your joints, chances are you’ve already
grabbed the remote and flipped to a different channel. If the message does not apply to you, you have no reason
to listen to it.
Some people might be tempted to react in similar fashion when they learn that there is going to be a
sermon all about marriage. Maybe you are a single person and you have no plans to get married in the immediate
future. Maybe you were married once before but death or divorce changed that. Maybe you’re an 87 year old
widow or an 8 year old child. A sermon about marriage might just seem like a nice invitation to tune out and
think about something else.
But many of us here are married and all of us have friends and family members who are married. All of
us can regularly be praying that those that are married…praying for loving homes and forgiving hearts and strong
family units. All of us enjoy listening to what our Lord says about every area of life, whether it directly or
indirectly applies to us. That means all of us, wed or unwed, can benefit from a sermon about marriage. So here
are a couple things we should know: Marriage is a gift from God; Marriage delivers blessings to God’s people.
Marriage is a gift from God
Marriage was not passed down to us by the cavemen. Marriage was not a convenient arrangement
invented by knights and dukes and princes as they sought to form alliances with other clans and families.
Marriage is not a man-made, man-regulated institution. It is a precious gift from God.
In fact, God uniquely tied marriage to the creation of mankind. By the sixth day God had already created
light, put the sun, moon, and stars in their places, put sea creatures in the seas, and land animals on the land. Now
it was time to create his crowned jewel, man. With the rest of his awesome creation God simply spoke the words
and the results were perfect. But with his most prized creation God expressed an extra measure of personal
interest and care. Like a potter forming and shaping a precious masterpiece and like a watchmaker designing and
carefully putting all the pieces together, God fashions and forms Adam and Eve.
In today’s gospel lesson Jesus says, “At the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become
one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not
separate.”
Marriage is a life-long union between one man and one woman…a God-given arrangement designed for
Adam and Eve…a God-given arrangement designed for all people to come. And God had a reason for giving this
unique gift to his uniquely created people…and that was to deliver blessings to his people.
Marriage delivers blessings to God’s people
God’s creation was perfect, without flaw or defect. But even after the creation of Adam, things were
incomplete…not quite finished. “The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a
helper suitable for him”
And then God does something very interesting. He brings all the animals to Adam so that he can name
them. And Adam does. But as the gander and the goose, the buck and the doe, the cow and the bull all pass
before Adam it became obvious that there was no suitable or “coordinating” partner for him. “So the LORD
God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and
closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the
man, and he brought her to the man.”
Now Adam had someone like him, “suitable” for him…someone to share in his joys and
sorrows…someone to start a family with…someone to grow old with. Not only did Eve provide Adam with
companionship and vice-versa, but it was a unique partnership, a complimentary team. God created them “male
and female.” God made two distinctive genders. Today there are plenty of people who are trying to erase those
distinctions; but God made two uniquely different genders. Women have babies, men do not. Women and men
have different muscular and skeletal structures. Generally speaking, men can run faster than women and women
can multitask better than men. Generally speaking, men don’t know how to ask for directions when they get lost
and women wouldn’t know not to start Jim Plunkett on their fantasy football team. The point is, God very
consciously and carefully created two different genders so they could team up together and compliment each
other.
That’s not something we should grumble about, but be excited about. Our Creator is a great and loving
God who knows how to give good gifts, special gifts, varied gifts. In a marriage, what one spouse lacks
physically, emotionally, or psychologically, the other can provide. Where one might be weak, the other is strong.
Working together and walking together, husbands and wives can thrive and they can live happily ever after.
But life is no fairly tale, is it? We don’t live in paradise like Adam and Eve did for that short time. We
all walk around with this corrupt and combative sinful nature kicking and screaming inside of us. We walk
around in a world that has no time for the biblical perspective of this thing called marriage. There are plenty of
people who would like to muzzle the mouth of the Creator so their ears don’t have to hear God’s voice.
Christians are not immune from the attacks or the temptations.
ƒ Christian husbands forget or neglect their role as family leader. They fail to love as Christ has loved.
They fail to serve with selfless and sacrificial hearts. They fail to lead by example.
ƒ Christian wives sometimes look at the role God gives them in marriage and they call it old fashioned and
out-dated and they refuse to submit to anyone.
ƒ Spouses who have failed to maintain their marriages seek to redefine the terms. “Life-long” no longer
means “as long as we live” but rather “as long things are going okay and we’re happy.”
ƒ Couples who are dating sometimes take the “test drive” approach to marriage. Let’s just live together for
a while and sleep together for a while before we sign on the dotted line.
The bottom line is this: Our Lord is quick to point out the rich blessings he gives us in marriage. He’s also
quick to point out the many ways we abuse those gifts…the many ways husbands and wives hurt their
relationships with one another…the many ways we, whether we’re single or married, bring dishonor to God.
He’s also quick to point out what he has done. The same LORD who created Adam and Eve…who put them
together in a beautiful marriage…and then watched them fall into sin…is the same LORD who promised to send
them a Savior.
That same LORD has formed us in our mother’s womb…He has given us a family…he has or may yet put
someone special in our lives. He too has seen us fall…again and again. He has seen us abuse his gifts and has
seen us adopt a worldly mindset about a lot of things. And yet he patiently shows us our sin (and gives us pastors
and teachers and family members to help show us when we are doing things that are harmful to our faith)…and
then he gladly brings us to the cross, that wooden, upright altar upon which the Lamb of God was slain…to take
away sin, yours and mine.
And so here we sit. Some of us are single. Some married. Some widows or widowers. Some divorced.
Some wounded. Some hurting. All sinful and in need of forgiveness. All weak and in need of strength. All
loved dearly by Jesus. All eager to carry out our God-given roles. All appreciative of the many rich and varied
blessings our Lord gives us through the gift of marriage. All willing to pray for Christian homes, faithful fathers
and loving mothers. All eager to honor our Lord whether we’re wed or unwed. Amen.