This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

[Music] Welcome to our second day of our Look Through Matthew chapter 19.
Yesterday we looked at what Jesus had to teach about divorce. Today I want to
look at the positive side.

In the midst of talking about divorce, Jesus strongly affirms the value of
marriage. In verses 4 to 6, which we looked at yesterday, let me read those
again. Jesus says, "Haven't you read that at the beginning the Creator made them
male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and
mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh, so they are
no longer two but one.

Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate. '" These words
that you hear at so many weddings, they're in the Old Testament, in the first
chapter of the book of Genesis, but they're also quoted by Jesus here, as he's
teaching about marriage. He's talking here about the value of marriage.

This is, in one sense, one of the now controversial, counter-cultural statements
of Jesus. Jesus says God's plan is that marriage is between a man and a woman
for life. And that's a radical concept to many people.

What Jesus taught, he teaches because he loves us. He teaches because he
understands how God made us and God's plan for our lives. What does Jesus have
to say about marriage?

In this teaching from the verse in Genesis, Jesus affirms two ways that marriage
values what God values. First, marriage values God's creation, and second,
marriage values our differences. First, marriage values God's creation.

Marriage is God's idea. It's not some government program. It's God's idea.

It's not a social experiment. It's God's idea. He's the one who at the beginning
of the book of Genesis said, "The two shall become one.

" It was his idea from the very beginning. His creation of man and woman goes
hand in hand with his idea for marriage. Jesus is quoting here from Genesis 1.

And then in Genesis chapter 2, we get a more detailed description of why God
created men and women in marriage. First, we're told there Adam's created and
all the animals. And Adam has a job to do.

He is naming all the animals. I always like to imagine that he grew weary in
this job. He started with very creative names like duck-billed platypus and
hippopotamus.

But at the end, he's getting tired and he's naming things like bee and fly and
just not very creative at all. Genesis 2. 20 says he gives names to all the
livestock and birds and wild animals, but there was no companion suitable for
him.

He was lonely. He was lonely. Now, whether that what I just said is exactly how
the naming happened or not, it is clear that Adam was lonely.

He grew more and more lonely. He was living in paradise, but he was living with
loneliness. Now, just imagine he's looking at elephants and baboons and pigs and
raccoons, and then God creates woman.

Then Eve shows up. "Wow, bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh," he says. And
Jesus says, "The two shall become one.

" That is the heart of God behind why he created men and women in marriage.
God's idea, God's plan. And as a follower of Jesus, your heart is committed to
following God's plan.

Because you trust God more than any social commentator. You trust God more than
any cultural pressure. Now, it's an interesting thing in the Bible.

When you look at the marriages in the Bible, this plan of God in real marriages,
it doesn't always play out in a perfect way. Two become one. You'd think there'd
be all purity and love, but you look at biblical marriages and you have Abraham,
where he is telling a foreign king that Sarah is his sister rather than his wife
so he can protect himself.

Or you've got David, who is cheating against his wives. Or you've got Solomon,
who's trying to be married to all of these women in order to have political
power. People keep messing it up, but God keeps holding to his plan.

Why? Well, it's pretty obvious. You can see the pain that comes from not
following his plan.

You can see it in Abraham's life and David's life and Solomon's life. You can
see it in our lives, but you can also see the joy that comes when we do follow
God's plan. Marriage is God's idea.

And Jesus, as he talks about marriage, he values God's plan, God's original plan
for us. God's original plan is still his plan. Marriage values God's creation.

Second thing that marriage values is it values our differences. Now, I'm sure
you would agree with me that men and women are different. They are physically
different.

We are emotionally different. We are spiritually even different. We're
different.

And Jesus quotes here that we are all made in the image of God. And then he says
this interesting phrase. He made them in the image of God.

Male and female, he made them. In that phrase, in both Old Testament and in the
quoting of Jesus, there is this sense that it takes both men and women to
reflect the image of God in this world. Now, I want to be careful here.

I want to be careful here. God is revealed in a male role of a loving father.
He's not a man.

He's not a physical man, but he's revealed in the male role of a loving father.
But when we look at creation, male and female, he created them to reflect his
image. It takes both men and women to reveal God's full character in this world.

Your distinctives as a woman or as a man, it takes both of our distinctives to
reveal God's character. God purposefully created men and women to be different
in order to fully show in the world what he is like. So God created us to be
different, planning.

Just think about this. He created us to be different, planning for us to be
married. Now, depending on the day, you could think what a wonderful God or
maybe more often what a cruel joke that I have to try to get along with this
thing that is so different than I am.

The differences bring both delight and disaster. It's like we set off sparks,
and a spark can set off fireworks, but it can also start a forest fire. Why did
God do this?

He did it to reveal what he is like. He did it because he wants us to grow. He
uses our differences like a heavenly sandpaper sometimes.

We become more like God even, as those differences sometimes even irritate
against each other. We become more like God. God made us to be different, and so
one of the greatest moral choices you can make when it comes to this decision
about marriage is to value the differences.

Whether you're married or not married yet, you can value the differences. By the
way, that's also one of the toughest moral choices we could make. It's hard to
value people's differences.

It's much easier to focus on what I want and what I like. Throughout the Bible,
it is our distinctions and our differences that bring about this genuine unity.
But as you're trying to value the differences, if you're listening to this and
you're married, you know that can be a struggle.

You've got to do it again and again and again. Someone has written that a
successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same
person. So you're falling in love over and over and over again.

You may need to fall in love again with the differences that brought you
together. Now, this thing of valuing the differences, what if I'm single? You
can still value it.

You can still value the differences that you have with the women that are
friends in your life. And you can value the differences by praying for and
valuing others, praying for marriages, appreciating the differences. Now, as we
talk about these reasons that Jesus teaches God values marriage, we could teach
others from Scripture.

Marriage values our children. Marriage values God's plan. Marriage values Jesus'
love.

But at the end of this, it really comes down to a decision, a personal decision.
Marriage of late has been often a discussion for courtrooms and for polling
places. And it does need to be discussed there.

There's no doubt about it. But for you and I as followers of Jesus, the
beginning place is with our choice. We can't get caught up in what other people
are thinking about it without, first of all, being committed to what Jesus says
about it in our own lives.

And there's one decision we can make that no legislature, no Supreme Court or
executive order can change. You can choose to value marriage the way that God
values marriage. Joshua 24, 15, "As for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord," are these words of Jesus, "two shall become one.

" You may not be able to change what another person believes, but you can live
what you believe. You may not be able to change your past, what you believed in
the past, and maybe some hurt that you brought. But you can be faithful right
now.

You can decide right now, I'm going to fight for my marriage or for the
marriages around me. I'm going to stay faithful in my marriage or encourage
faithfulness in the marriages around me. I'm going to forgive something that
happened in the past.

I'm going to forgive my former spouse. I'm going to fight for, and I'm going to
believe in, and I'm going to trust in God's plan for my life. That's the
beginning place.

So let's pray together. Let's begin there. And as we begin, pray for your own
marriage.

Pray for the marriage of someone that's close to you. And as you pray, just say,
God, thank you for this marriage. And I want to commit to this marriage or this
marriage that I'm praying for.

That, God, we would value your plan. Thank you that it's your idea. And that you
teach us to value our differences as hard as that can be some days.

Thank you, God. This is a hard thank you, but thank you that you made us
different so that we could reflect who you are. Thank you that you made us
different so that we could grow together in you.

And Lord, because of your plan, because of who you are, I recommit to living
your values in my life and encouraging those in other people's lives. I recommit
to this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Tomorrow we're going to see together how Jesus welcomes the little children.