Origins 04: 2 Become 1
Origins 04: 2 Become 1
When “Me” Becomes “We”
A Wedding. What a simple, but profound moment. On your wedding day, you walk in as “me.” You make a vow. You walk out as “we.” What made the difference? A simple vow.
Not sure if you have ever considered it, but your relationship with your partner, at all times, hangs on a thread. It hangs on the thread of your integrity, your word.
What holds a couple together? How much does a vow to God mean? The glue that holds families together is the commitment of two individuals to keep their word, their promise that they made to God. Listen and be blessed.
Marriage Doesn’t Matter
Many today feel that marriage doesn’t matter. Why? Well, many divorce. Many live together without getting married, stay together until they die and live a happier life than many who marry. So what’s the point? Why bother? This is the reasoning of some who no longer see any value in marriage.
But, as a Christian, marriage is more than living together and having a family. Marriage is not only utilitarian or pragmatic or personally beneficial. For believers, God enters into the marriage. We acknowledge two things.
- We acknowledge that marriage was created by God
- We acknowledge that marriage centers on God and vows to God
Four Truths About Marriage from Genesis 2
FIRST:
The story of creation finished in chapter one. But now, chapter two returns to the creation of humanity, slows down the pace and takes us into some of the most intimate details of how God made the man and the woman. No other creation gets this much attention. God centers in not only on the fact that he made man and woman, but that he created marriage.
The Bible tells us that God formed the man and then breathed the breathe of life into his nostrils. This tells us two things. First, God formed the man from the dust of the earth. Second, the word “breathe” is the word spirit and this means that it is not simply God’s breathe, but it is God’s Spirit who brought life into the man’s body. 1 Corinthians 15:45 says that the first man became a living being. Life came from the Spirit of God
SECOND:
Man was made first and he was made to tend the garden and name all the animals. God allowed the man to see that he was the only creation that lacked a female counterpart. He saw the need. He felt the loneliness. God let man make an amazing discovery, his incompleteness. According to the creation story, one thing was not “good.” It was not good that the man be alone.
THIRD:
It was not good that the man be alone. Once the man made this discovery, God caused him to fall asleep, took one of his ribs and made the woman.
It then says in the text, that the Lord presented the woman to the man. He introduced the Eve to Adam. What a surprise this must have been to Adam. Based on his response he was very happy and understood his completeness in having the woman.
Notice that the woman was not taken from man’s foot so that he could rule over her. Notice that the woman was not taken from his head that she could rule over him. She was taken from his side that she might be his partner, his little helper, his completeness.
FOURTH:
Here we see the foundational statements of marriage.
1. Man shall leave his father and mother
2. Man shall cleave to his wife
3. The two shall become one
The two becoming one is both in body and in Spirit. Malachi 2:15 states it this way,
Didn’t the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.
Conclusion
First, vows are made to God, not to your husband or wife (Deut. 23:21; Ecc. 5:4,5). This might sound like a trivial point, but it changes everything. The Bible verses above show that vows are made to God. Second, vows to people are easily negotiated out of, since we may feel that the other person has not kept their end of the bargain. However, a marriage vow to God, means that you are looking to be faithful to what you have promised the Lord that you would do, not what you have promised another person that you would do. The marriage vow is a promise to God regarding another person. This means that the vow is based on you and your relationship with God. How can marriage be fulfilled without the vow to God? This means that we not only acknowledge that God made marriage, but that He is the one who holds our marriage together. As Jesus said, “What God has joined together, let no man separate” (Mark 10:9).
Second, each one of us needs to consider how precariously thin is the chord that binds our marriages together. How significant is your own integrity to the marriage remaining as one. How intrinsically the enduring of your marriage is tied to your own owning up to your words and your vows to God.
Blessings,
Rich
