Sermon Tone Analysis

God’s Design For Marriage

Genesis 2:20-25

Richard Powell, Senior Pastor

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Scripture Introduction:

Gayle Urban of Woodbridge, Va.

Tells of a humorous episode in her life.

/While browsing in a Christian bookstore one day, I discovered a shelf of “reduced price” items.

Among the gifts was a little figurine of a man and woman, their heads lovingly tilted toward one another.

“Happy 10th Anniversary” read the inscription.

It appeared to be in perfect condition, yet its tag indicated, “damaged.”

Examining it more closely, I found another tag underneath and chuckled—“Wife is coming unglued.”/

Citation: Gayle Urban, Woodbridge, Va.

Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."

If you are already married I want to help you to stay glued.

I pray that a fresh look at God’s original design for marriage will remind you how special marriage can be.

If you are dating or contemplating marriage in the future then I hope this message will give you direction as you make one of life’s greatest decisions.

READ PASSAGE Genesis 2:20-25

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Sermon Introduction:

Whenever there is a separation between precepts and practice, belief and behavior, things break down.

In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric, invading hordes to the north.

To get this protection, they built the Great Wall of China.

It's 30 feet high, 18 feet thick, and more than 1,500 miles long!

The Chinese goal was to build an absolutely impenetrable defense—too high to climb over, too thick to break down, and too long to go around.

But during the first hundred years of the wall's existence China was successfully invaded three times.

It wasn't the wall's fault.

During all three invasions, the barbaric hordes never climbed over the wall, broke it down, or went around it; they simply bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right in through an open door.

The purpose of the wall failed because of a breakdown between precepts and practice, between belief and behavior.

Citation: James Emery White, You Can Experience a Purposeful Life (Nashville: Word, 2000)

Something similar has happened in the modern understanding of marriage.

Our society has divorced God’s precepts, His Word from its practices.

Most people no longer look to God for wisdom and direction when it comes to the marriage relationship.

They simply go their own way.

Big Idea: God designed marriage for our good and for His glory.

There is nothing wrong with marriage as God intended it to be.

The problem lies with people who reject God’s design and accept Satan’s counterfeits.

To reject God’s plan for marriage is to open up the gate for satanic attack.

And certainly this is what is going on in America today.

The home is under attack because we have abandoned that which was given for its protection.

People’s lives are being hurt by two debates that rage in our society.

The first is the Divorce Debate.

It has been said that American society may have erased the stigma that once accompanied divorce, but it can no longer ignore divorce's massive effects.

As social scientists track successive generations of American children whose parents have ended their marriages, the facts are leading even some once-staunch supporters to conclude that divorce is hurting American society and devastating children's lives.

Its effects are obvious in family life, educational attainment, job stability, income potential, physical and emotional health, drug use, and crime.

Did you know that each year, over one million American children suffer as their parents divorce.

Moreover, half of all children born in wedlock this year will see their parents divorce before reaching their eighteenth birthday.

This fact alone should give us reason for pause.

The second debate that is harming people’s lives is the Definition Debate.

A growing number of people in our society believe that marriage can be defined any way you want.

In their opinion marriage can be between and man and a women, between two men, or between two women.

Where will this logic end?

Will we sanction polygamy?

Friend, I want to inform you based on the authority of God’s Word that marriage is of Divine origin.

It was God’s idea.

Man has no right to change the definition!

Marriage can be for our good and God’s glory when we follow His design.

There are four commitments that must be made if you are going to enjoy marriage as God intended.

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Commitment # 1: Receiving Your Mate

Genesis 2:20-23

/20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field.

But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.

22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to 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." /

God had created the world and all that is in it.

He created the birds of the sky, and the beasts of the field.

Adam’s job was to name all the creatures.

You can almost imagine Adam standing in the garden naming the animals.

A four-footed beast saunters up to Adam chewing its cud.

Adam takes one look at it and calls it a cow.

(No, he didn’t say “Holy Cow!”) Next Adam notices a blue feathery bird soaring over head.

Adam names him Blue jay.

On and on Adam named the animals.

We do not know what Adam named the creatures, but you get the point.

!! A. Adam’s problem

But Adam had a problem.

He noticed that there was no one like him around.

Mr. Cow had Mrs. Cow, and Mr. Blue Jay had Mrs. Blue jay.

But where was Mrs. Adam?

Adam realized that he was all alone.

Now, sure, he had God, but Adam did not have another human being like himself.

It is not wrong to desire a life-long companion.

God is the one who placed that desire for companionship in your heart.

However, it is wrong to fulfill that desire or longing in the wrong way.

Don’t go looking for love in all the wrong places.

Don’t take matters into your own hands and marry the first person you meet.

But it is not wrong to not want to be alone.

!! B. God’s Plan

Adam had a problem, but God had a plan.

Adam’s dilemma did not take God by surprise.

God already knew what every woman knows!

God knew that it was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18).

God’s original plan was to create a helper fitting, or suitable for Adam.

Marriage was not an add-on to God’s plan.

Marriage is not a disposable commodity in the human existence.

Marriage is of divine origin.

It was God’s idea long before Adam thought of it.