“The Gospel And Marriage”
Genesis 1-3, Ephesians 5:22-33
Sermon Series: “Modern Family”
Introduction: Marriage was instituted by God as a part of creation as the foundational institution of human society. It was created for everyone and is under common grace. However, there is a deeper aspect to marriage, and that is a truly Christian marriage. The spiritual reality behind marriage is that it is designed to be a picture of Jesus and His Church. Of course, that relationship was brought about through Jesus sacrificing Himself for us so it is based on the gospel. At True Life, we believe God wants us to focus on the gospel and examine how it applies to every area of life, including marriage, so let’s look at The Gospel and Marriage.
1. The Pattern Of Marriage: In Ephesians 5:31, Paul quotes God in Genesis 2:24. He writes, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” The union of a husband and wife is a picture of the union between Jesus and a believer.
2. The Purpose of Marriage: In this comparison and analogy of marriage and the church, Paul speaks of a “glorious church” in verse 27. Based on the analogy presented here, that implies that God wants us to have glorious marriages as well. This teaches us that the purpose of marriage is the glory of God. Of course, everything is for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7, 1 Corinthians 10:31). Therefore, one of the keys to marriage is determining that our purpose is to glorify God and do what He has called us to do. In fact, we are failing at marriage if we are not doing that even if we seem outwardly successful.
3. The Problem For Marriage: The foundational problem for marriages is that we live in a fallen world and every marriage is a union of two sinners. We are battling the world, the flesh, and the devil at every turn. We live in a Genesis 3 world. Think about what happened to Adam and Eve’s relationship after they sinned. They went from “naked and…not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25) to:
A. Guilt
B. Shame
C. Religious self-effort
D. Hiding
E. Fear
F. Insecurity
G. Blame/Excuses
H. Cursed
4. The Power For Marriage: The power to transform people and build a strong, godly marriage is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is Savior-not our spouse. Genesis 3:15 prophesies of the coming of Jesus through the virgin birth to destroy Satan. Verse 21 pictures the substitutionary atonement of the cross. The outworking of the gospel in our lives is the antidote to every problem mentioned in #3. The key to two people building the right kind of relationship is being the right kind of people and that happens through Jesus.
5. The Picture Of Marriage: The gospel empowers marriages and is pictured through marriage by:
A. Giving ourself away for the sake of someone else
B. Unconditional love and acceptance
C. Grace and forgiveness
D. Repentance (Hebrews 12:16-17)
Tim Keller said, “The key to marriage is simply reenacting the gospel to each other. You can talk about communication skills or other stuff, and they’re all good, but basically knowing how to forgive and knowing how to repent…If you both can forgive and repent, it doesn’t matter how different you are, you’ll be okay.”
