Purpose of Marriage

12. June 2008 by Bernice Davis.

Hello:

Our text for today is Matthew 5:31-32 

31 It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

Today, our subject covers divorce.  This is a very difficult and controversial issue in the body of Christ.    Just yesterday on CNN, there was a study on marriage and the findings indicated that the statistics show that 1out of every 2 marriages ends up in divorce and the statistics for people living together has drastically increased.      Last time I checked the data for Christians, the divorce rate was about the same for both Christians and non-Christians.  This is heartbreaking data especially among the ‘body of Christ.”    I want to discuss the origin of divorce, where it came from, why it was needed, who instituted it, how did God feel about it, etc.  These are some of the main themes that I hope to cover while we’re on this study.    Before I get into the heart of divorce, I would like to talk about marriage and it’s origin.  I feel that before we can clearly define and study divorce, we need to know what is being destroyed or done away with.  Let’s begin our journey in the beginning.  Let’s travel back to creation and see why marriage was created. Genesis 2:18 “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam  to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave  names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made  he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman,  because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.  

This is a very familiar text.  Recently, I took a survey in church as to what people believed the purpose of marriage was and the two most popular answers were procreation and being able to legally have sex.      Yes these are part of marriage, but what happens if a couple gets married and both of them find that either both or one of the parties is sterile or something happens in the marriage where one of the spouses can no longer have sex.   

Let’s look at the Genesis text.  The bible says that God said; it is not good that man should be alone.  What was the problem; loneliness.    What was the solution, create a woman.  Woman was created for companionship.   The text says that God would make him a helpmate.  That word help mate means a “counterpart” or “his reflected image.”     Think about it, Adam was created to take care of God’s creation.  The text says that he was to have dominion and subdue the earth.   Adam had God.  He walked with God in the cool of the day.  He had a relationship with him yet God said it is not good for him to be alone.   It was not good to not have someone on his own level that he could relate to.   God created woman to be his companion and helpmate.  What we mean by help mate is that she was created to help him accomplish what God had given him to do.  She was created to help him fulfill his calling.  Adam had a mission and plan for their lives given to him by God.  He already had a job, had direction, and had an assignment before the woman was created.  Adam was put in the garden to work it and all the animals were brought to him that he would name them and he was instructed to have dominion over the earth.   I know in this day, it’s hard to accept that I am to help my husband fulfill his calling.  What about me, what about my dreams, my goals, and my ambitions.  Tomorrow, we’ll talk about some of those things.   

God Bless. Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily. 

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »