Marriage Under Threat

Marriage Under Threat Marriage Under Threat (successful-marriage.blogspot.com)

This site contains papers about how marriage should work. Marriage is simple, but not easy. It’s simple to walk across a room – just put one foot in front of the other. It’s just as simple to walk from Maine to California – KEEP putting one foot in front of the other – but less easy. Marriage is a lifetime journey, not a short stroll.

Marriage Under Threat: What Drove Jesus’ 11 Nobodies to Turn the World Upside-Down? (successful-marriage.blogspot.com)

Friday, June 18, 2021

What Drove Jesus’ 11 Nobodies to Turn the World Upside-Down?

Introduction

Starting with eleven fired-up nobodies (Acts 4:13), Jesus’ gospel turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6). 300 years later, a quarter to a half the population of the Roman Empire either converted to Christianity or was sympathetic in spite of great persecution. How did this come about?

… there is neither male nor female

: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28b

Christianity respects and values women far more than other faiths – women are equal in value to men! A woman can approach God whenever she wishes. This turned society upside-down, nobody imagined ordinary people relating to God without permission, especially not women.

Some say that Jesus’ resurrection drove His followers to risk their lives to spread His message. There would be no Christianity without His resurrection, but that wasn’t why they did it. Chapter 1 explains why the resurrection didn’t get the church going and explains what drove Christians to spread the Gospel. Chapter 2 lists some of the many ways Jesus turned the world upside-down.

The Simplicity of Marriage

God made salvation and marriage. If you try to get to Heaven your own way instead of God’s way, you go to Hell when you die. If you try your own way of marriage instead of God’s way, you can make life Hell on earth.

By the time my wife and I were married in 1971, most of our friends were already divorced. We soon realized that our joyful marriage was a precious gift from God but we couldn’t explain it. We had nothing to say when her sister and my brother suffered the pain of divorce.

We spent the next 45 years writing down what God had in mind for marriage so that others could enjoy the blessing God wants to give when a man and a woman enter into Holy Matrimony. Everyone knows people whose marriages are in trouble or young people who are thinking of marrying. God’s plan of marriage is as upside-down as the overall gospel and needs explanation.

Chapter 3 explains that marriage is very simple. The rest of the book equips you to help others find the joy God offers through marriage. Jesus explained it this way:

And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. ³⁹He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. Matthew 10:38-39

You can’t be saved or enjoy the Fruit of the Spirit without dying to your former life and being born again into service to Christ. That is how you find the life of blessing Jesus wants for you.

Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:19-23

In the same way, bride and groom must die to their former individual lives and serve their new family. A husband must pour his life into nourishing, cherishing, and serving his wife and family and she must dedicate herself to guiding the house and serving her husband an family. As serving Christ brings us the Fruit of the Spirit in our daily walk, serving our spouses brings the Fruit of the Spirit into our marriages. When lost people see couples sharing God’s grace and forgiveness, they’ll want to hear how to get it for themselves.

There is no joy this side of Heaven for a man that compares with having a woman like belonging to him and like serving him. There is no joy for a woman that compares with having a man like belonging to her and leading her through serving her and caring for her. It really is that simple. We need to share the message!

Marriage Under Threat