Marriage: The Ceremony that Seals the Deal
Genesis 2:18-25
 
 
BEGIN: Our scripture read to us this morning says...

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his (What? To his what?) wife; and they shall become one flesh.

Matthew 19:6 "So they are no longer two (Jesus says), but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

 
The two have been SuperGlued together by God, and are not to be separated lest terrible harm be done.
 
How many remember the first SuperGlue commercials? And the warnings that came with those little tubes of glue? How users were warned to be careful. Because SuperGlue was designed to join together all different kinds of surfaces... for how long? Permanently. Forever. Just as marriage was designed to permanently join together a man with his wife.
 

• That's why my brother in law waited patiently, and prayerfully, at the hospital this last week while his wife was having a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery. Because marriage was designed to join together a man with his wife for how long? Permanently. Forever.

• That's why Jeff's father celebrated his and his wife's 43rd wedding anniversary in the hospital last Saturday a week ago, even though she has cancer. Because marriage was designed to join together a man with his wife for how long? Permanently. Forever.

• That's why Gabrielle Giffords retired from the US Congress this past week, and vowed to be back after rehabilitation, with her husband at her side. Because marriage was designed to join together a man with his wife for how long? Permanently. Forever.

"For better, for worse. For richer, for better.

In sickness, and in health. Till death you do part."

 
Marriage is designed by God to be a ceremony that seals the deal between husband and wife, where God joins the two together, bonding them into one flesh, for how long? For life.
 
That's the difference between Super-Glue and Velcro! SuperGlue is meant to bond together two different surfaces for life. For good. And that's why it can be so terribly painful when a husband and wife are torn apart.
 
In a fairy tale entitled "The Magic Mirror" (by Kristen R. Morsy, Cricket, 8 April 1981), a troll asks a boy named John a riddle, to name the strongest bond in the world, before letting John pass. John thought and thought and thought to himself said...
 

• "If my brother the sailor were to guess this riddle, he would say the strongest bond in the world is the horizon. It joins the sky and sea together and gives us our place in the world.

• If my brother the farmer were to guess this riddle, he would say the strongest bond in the world is the rainbow. It joins the rain and sun together so that the crops can grow.

• But <if my father or mother were asked> I guess <they would say> the strongest bond in the world is the bond of love. Not even death can destroy it."

 
And some of you can testify to just how terribly painful it is to give up the one you love. And how much you still love your husband, your wife, even though they are gone. It's not like death unzippered your loved one from your life. It's as if death has ripped the one you love from your very flesh, leaving you with no idea how, or even if you can go on! It can be the most painful and debilitating thing you ever experience in this life! And it's all because of the tearing asunder of this very real bond that took place when a man left his father and mother, to be joined together with his what? With his wife. And the two became one what? One flesh.
 
You know, there was a Vietnam War protest song from my childhood that made light of the marriage ceremony and war and a half dozen other things saying, "A Piece of Paper Makes It Right."
 

• Killing is wrong, the song says. But get a draft notice, and a piece of paper, makes it alright.

• Shacking up together is wrong. But get a marriage license, and a piece of paper, makes it alright.

 
Making fun of marriage. But what that song fails to recognize is God's part in our decision making process. When God gets on board with the decisions we make; or rather, when we get on board with the decisions God would have us make; how God blesses those who choose to live life the way God says life is to be lived!
 
That's what the whole first Psalm is about.
 

Psalms 1:1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
 
Psalms 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
 
Psalms 1:3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
 
Psalms 1:4 The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
 
Psalms 1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
 
Psalms 1:6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.

 
The Psalmist is trying to tell us there really is a difference in the outcome of those two decidedly different ways to live life. The one has the blessings of God upon their life! And the other has God's disdain.
 
So the man who chooses to leave his father and mother to be united to his wife, as God designed life to be lived, God blesses, and God joins such a man, and such a woman, together, as one flesh! Binding them together in such a way that they might stay together, for life! Because Lord knows we need it! Because living together as man and wife is not easy. Can I get an amen from someone this morning? Living together as man and wife can bring into the mix all sorts of problems.
 
A New Yorker cartoon shows a preacher standing in a pulpit and saying:
 

"Having completed the formation of the earth, on the seventh day the Lord rested. Then, on the eighth day, the Lord said, 'Let there be problems.' And there were problems."

 
And that's almost what the Bible says. Genesis Chapter Two ends with God bringing the woman He had fashioned from Adam's rib to the man, and the man falling head over heels in love with the woman.
 

Genesis 2:23 The man 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."

 
And God announces His intention for such a living arrangement by saying...
 

Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.
 
Genesis 2:25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

 
And then what happens in the very next Chapter? Come on now, Genesis Chapter Three, the very next verses of human record, what happens? THE HONEY MOON IS OVER!
 
Satan tempts the woman. And the woman gives in.
 

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; <and then what does the woman do> and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

 
And then God come's callin'. And God asks the man...
 

Genesis 3:11 ...Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

 
AND THEN THE FINGER POINTING BEGINS! Remember?
 

Genesis 3:12 The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 3:13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

 
And the finger pointin's been going on ever since! I mean, we're still trying to thrash it out this morning, men and women arguing over how much of this was the woman's fault, and how much was the man's? We could open up the floor and try to thrash out that question again this morning. And we wouldn't decide a thing. Other than perhaps this: a man, and a woman, living together; there's going to be problems.
 
If I'm telling the truth say amen.
 
I don't know if I'm saying this right or not, but how many people know what I mean when I say a man and a woman are going to need the SuperGlue of God if they're going to make this thing called marriage work? They're going to need the SuperGlue of God if they are going to be able to stick it out together through thick and thin as man and wife. They're going to need be bound together as tight as it gets, as tight as one flesh, if they are to be kept from walking apart.
 
That's what we mean by "tying the knot." Isn't it?
 
"Tie 'em tight preacher," I'm often told at weddings. Some tighter than others. What do we mean by that? We mean we want that couple tied up so tight there's no getting out! Because we know puttin' a man and a woman under the same roof, is just asking for trouble!
 

Someone has said, "When a man marries a woman, they might become one; but trouble's comes when they try and decide which one!"

 
The number one best selling t-shirt in the summer of 2001 (The Washington Post) was the one that said:
 

"My Husband and I Divorced Over Religious Differences --
He Thought He Was God and I Didn't."

 
For marriage to make it's going to take a lot of work. On God's part, and on our part. Marriage may be made in heaven but it has to be lived out where? On earth. I guess that's why there's so much advice, and encouragement, and commandment given to husbands and wives in the Bible. And I am absolutely convinced that many a marriage would never have made it had it not been for God's SuperGluing process holding them together.
 
Comedian Rodney Dangerfield says he and his wife are doing everything they can to hold their marriage together. He said...
 

• We sleep in separate rooms,

• we have dinner apart,

• we take separate vacations --

• we're doing everything we can to keep our marriage together!

 
If truth were known, there are a lot of marriages out there just like that, just trying to hold it together. Not sure if they are going to make it. And if truth were known, the only thing holding some of those marriages together is the SuperGlue of God.
 

• The commands of God.

• The promises made to God,

• by a sincere man of God, a sincere woman of God, who doesn't want to break their vow to God.

 
If that's all that's holding your marriage together, the world says, "Let it go." But the truly committed hold on. The truly committed hold on in hopes of turning their marriage around. And even if the marriage can't be turned around, the truly committed hold on for the day when perhaps they can hear Jesus say...
 

Matthew 25:21 ...'Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'

 
How many of you know that sometimes life isn't lived "happily ever after" upon the earth. Sometimes "happily ever after" doesn't come until much later. And is enjoyed for much longer.
 
I heard about a 7-year old who had just seen the movie Cinderella and was testing her neighbor lady's knowledge of the story. The neighbor, wanting to impress the little girl, said, "I know how the story ends."
 

"How?" the little girl said.
 
"Cinderella and Prince Charming lived happily ever after."
 
To which the little girl said, "No they didn't. They got married!"

 
Sometimes marriage doesn't turn out to be the "happily-ever-after" dream you envisioned. But that doesn't mean you give up. You can still allow the SuperGlue of God to hold your marriage together. Through good times and bad.
 
I heard of one bishop attending a confirmation in a Catholic Church who watched the local priest quiz a frightened little girl on the catechisms of the faith right out in front of the whole Church. The priest asked the frightened little girl to define the state of matrimony, and the little girl nervously answered:
 

"Matrimony is the state of terrible torment which those who enter are compelled to undergo for a time to prepare them for a better world."
 
"No, no," chided the priest, "That's purgatory, not matrimony."
 
"Leave her alone," said his superior. "What do we know? Perhaps the child has been shown the light."

 
And for all I know there are some marriages out there that are about that bad. But they don't give up. They hold on. Because God helps them hold on, to the promises they have made.
 
George Bernard Shaw had a marriage like that. The famous American playwright was being interviewed by a reporter, and his wife was there. And as they talked back and forth, the reporter noticed that Shaw's wife kept herself busy knitting. Finally he turned to her and said, "Madame, you seem so very absorbed in your knitting. Is that a strong interest?"
 

"Not really," she said. "But I've heard these stories of Bernard's so many times that if I didn't do something with my hands, I'd strangle him!"

 
Sometimes that's about how married couples feel. We can become so angry with one another we think about doing bodily harm to one another! Like Joanna who called her minister three weeks after their wedding.
 

"Preacher," she wailed, "John and I had our FIRST fight! What am I going to do?"
 
"Calm down, my child," said the minister, "It's not half as bad as you think. EVERY marriage has to have its first fight! In fact, you'll have many more fights throughout your marriage!"
 
"I know, I know," said Joanna, "but what am I going to do with the BODY?"

 
Not every marriage is going to be happy. Not any marriage is going to be happy ever after. But a whole lot more marriages ought to be making it. Especially among Christians. What we need are more Courageous Christian men to "man up" and keep their word. And more Courageous Christian women to "woman up" and keep their marriage vows.
 

For better, for worse, for richer or poorer,
in sickness or in health, till death you do part.

 
If you're not ready to do that, you're not ready to be married.
 
I heard about an elderly couple paying for groceries in the checkout line, who happened to be discussing the celebration for their approaching 50th wedding anniversary.
 

After a few moments of conversation, the young woman at the cash register shook her head and said, "I can't imagine being married to the same man for 50 years!"
 
And the wife wisely replied, "Well, honey, don't get married until you can."

 
Pretty good advice. Because that's what marriage is all about. Marriage is supposed to be the ceremony that seals the deal for life!
 
Amen? Amen.
 
END: One article in a very popular men's magazine that shall go unnamed (Maxim, quoted in The Washington Post Online Edition, November 12, 1999) on this very subject we're considering this morning closed by saying...

"Monogamy is man's greatest challenge. It takes unshakable commitment, immense emotional maturity, a will of steel in the face of overwhelming temptation. In other words, it ain't gonna happen."

 
But you know what? It does happen. It happens all the time, especially among Christians. I think of my dad right now, at home, taking care of mom, now suffering with alzheimers. I'm sure dad and mom had happier times. More enjoyable times. But I have to tell you I've never been prouder of my dad still at home, sticking it out through thick and thin, taking care of my mom. And it makes me want to "man up" and be just like him. And show my kids this can be done. And should be done. This should be done and this can be done with the SuperGlue of God. And I'm asking everyone who will commit themselves to seeing that this is done to stand with me as we close out this morning. As we redouble our resolve to be courageous men and women who keep our word to God.
 
Remain standing as we are reminded one last time of those in our Courageous movie and their resolve to be such courageous men and women and children of God.
 

<PLAY Movie Clip "The Ceremony that Seals the Deal>

 
Who will be the courageous men and women in our congregation who will surrender everything to keep their promise to God? Who would make such a promise to God this morning, to lay down your life, take up your cross, and follow Christ, no matter what the price?
 
If that's your decision we encourage you to come and make it known this morning as we stand and sing.