Genesis 1:26-28, 2:18-25
A young, newlywed woman was preparing the first Thanksgiving Dinner since her marriage. As she was getting everything ready for Thanksgiving Day, she reminds herself to let the turkey finish thawing in the kitchen sink overnight. So, before she went to bed for the night, she placed the turkey in the sink and then placed an empty dish rack over it. About the time she’s doing this her husband walks in. He asks, “Hey, honey, why are you putting the dish rack over the turkey?” “Oh,” she said, “my mom always did that to help the turkey thaw.”
On Thanksgiving morning, the mother of this young bride calls to see how things are going with the meal prep. Her daughter tells her things are going well and then adds with a bit of pride, “I even remembered to put the dish rack over the turkey last night.” Her mother was silent for a few moments and then asked, “What are you talking about?”
“Mom,” the daughter replied, “I remembered that you always put the dish rack over the turkey to help it thaw when it was in the sink.” There was another pause on the line and then the mother said, “Yes, that’s true honey, but I did that because we had cats!”
You may have heard an account like this one, or even had an experience like this one. The moral of this story? It’s important for you and me to know WHY we’re doing WHAT we’re doing. The young bride’s lack of understanding didn’t make any difference in how the turkey turned out. The turkey would’ve thawed with or without the dish rack. But I remind you, there are many people who make similar mistakes in areas of much greater consequence.
If you’re a follower of Jesus, your claim automatically obligates you to accept the Word of God as the standard for your life. Jesus said, “If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Yet I discover in my own life, and among other Believers, a disturbing reality. In many areas we follow man’s ideas about what the Bible teaches instead of following the Bible.
If that statement makes you uncomfortable, good. It makes me uncomfortable too. When I stand before God to give an account of my works, God’s Word will be the standard of measurement, not what someone else thought God’s Word meant. I’ve observed in my brief lifetime that all too often, we Christians take our cues from the culture around us rather than the Holy Scriptures. We try to bring our culture to the Scriptures and make it fit. Instead, we should be taking the Word of God to our culture and changing our lifestyle to reflect God’s commands. I’m not saying that making the Gospel culturally relevant isn’t important. I’m saying that the culture and practice of those who profess to follow Jesus must conform to the Scriptures, not the other way around! Following Jesus will make you counter-cultural.
There are numerous areas of life and practice where you and I as Christ-followers have strayed quite far from what God’s Word teaches. The area I will address in this study is at the very core of our existence. It impacts our lives as individuals, families, churches, communities, and nations. It affects us spiritually, emotionally, and physically. It is the area of marriage.
As we begin this study, I want to make one thing clear. I’m speaking primarily to those who are followers of Christ. That’s not to say that the principles of God’s Word will not work for unbelievers, they will. But most unbelievers will not follow those principles because their hearts and minds have not been transformed by the power of the Gospel.
Today there are widely differing opinions over what marriage is and how it is expressed in our current culture. One reason for these differences of opinion and the confusion they create is because we’ve lost a biblical understanding of the PURPOSES of marriage. One author I read stated it succinctly...
