Genesis 2:18-25Intro: I don’t know if you noticed but Nancy Reagan passed away last week, dimming the long shadow that the Their life and presidency had cast upon the country.
Their marriage was not a perfect one but a magnificent one and by all accounts, a real one… it lends itself to Images of royalty and dignity, that saw them endure assassination attempts, national tragedy and bitter confrontation with the Soviets.
Peggy Noonan was Ronald Reagan’s speech writer , a friend, and now a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. Reagan was not a president without flaws, but in our current age, we would welcome a president with such burdens for life, prayer and a national commitment to the Bible- all of which found expression in his administration. Noonan writes,
There was no him without her. He couldn’t have launched or sustained his great project if she hadn’t made him her project… If you served him well, you were in, if not, don’t let the door hit you. She was protective, or as she would put it, she was looking after her man. Her protectiveness was a patriotic act.”
And notice that the subject of marriage is no less a priority in Jesus’ mind: Matthew 19
God no less protective of marriage either, so if we want to see our marriages stronger, why not start here.
BI: Let’s make marriage MAGNIFICENT again.
To do so, we must discover what God did to make it valuable as a model
1. GOD’S UNION FOSTERED A TRUSTING SUBMISSION
The environment: (put him) (vs. 8,15) one of safety, and rest. Everything about the garden said I’m in charge, and I want your life to be perfect.
The task: likely involved more than labor. Alternative reading suggests worship and obey. Which fits better with verse 16 than working it in God’s mind!
The order: it matters, the roles that God provide and the strength of relationship prospers when we retain that in our lives (I Cor. 11; I Tim. 2:13; Eph. 5). Some of the strongest marriages I know are made up of two dynamic personalities committed to an understanding of how God wants their relationship to function. (Gary/ Jennifer; Pastor and Donna; Chuck and Nancy).
2. GOD’S UNION FOSTERED A WARM AND DEEPENING FRIENDSHIP.
They entered into a relationship that was untested and uncharted. He would love her as himself and she would respect him, and look to him for her security and support.
She had a shorter past and would need to know all that God had told Adam… He on the other hand would benefit from the compliment that she brought to the relationship. Everything that the animals could not provide (Boice?)
Mutual fulfillment: both of these people were individuals, free to develop their gifts and talents for the betterment of their family, for each other, and God’s kingdom. Both of them, each in their own realm was charged with the stewardship of the creation they called “Home”
3. GOD’S UNION BROUGHT PRISTINE INTIMACY
They were alone in a paradise with the one person they could enjoy sexual intimacy with and with almost no limitations. They were not ashamed because their nakedness was a result of design not disgust.
Christian marriage ought to be the most sexually satisfying experience that the world could ever hope to attain. It’s designed to be exclusive, long suffering, and mutually satisfying– everything that living together isn’t, it’s just fornication… It’s not marriage and it can’t yield the benefits that marriage can.. _[ the chart]
4. GOD’S UNION FOSTERED AN OPPORTUNITY FOR LEGACY
The opportunity to build a life that matters, in the present. Listen, I have no such notion that 20 years from now, any of you will listen to my sermons, or read the book I yet hope to publish. (Dobson: Dare to Discipline). But it’s the legacy of Godliness that’s what I want to leave behind.
What shall be my legacy? Your legacy? Im not good at many of the things most men are supposed to be successful at– I don’t hunt, don’t fish, don’t like to play cards, am abysmal at dodgeball…
But my real opportunity lies with my personal family and the few church families that I have been privileged to serve. Ministry and family: where legacy lie!
Pastor Williams: 6 kids… All love each other, all considered their dad a winner! All went to see him in hospice, some wrote tributes, others just loved on him. All of them have kids, who love God, and want to be like grandpa! Listen, that man lying in the bed have left his meager possessions to rot and break but he has left a legacy that most of us would long to have.
CLOSE
1. Someone asked my parents once about their devotion to one another.. My mom said,
“you have to understand, we’ve been watching each other’s back for 65 years!
And so, when my mother checked into heaven for an extended stay, my father concluded at 94 years of age he had gone long enough on the road, and quit thriving.
2. The upside for you? Bluntly, Jesus has “had” your back before you were born? … “Your substance was known to him, David says…” And 20 centuries ago, He declared himself your bride by giving himself up for you, that you might know just how much He loves you!
3. And how do you respond? By loving Him back and loving that spouse/ family that he has given you!
MJC
Sermon reflective 