What does Jesus think about marriage? Is it really just between a man and woman?
What does Jesus think about marriage? Is it really just between a man and woman?
Jesus is put out with the Pharisees. Jesus points them and us to the Bible. I’m afraid our church leaders are not serving us well and are deceiving God’s people by pretending something that God did (make us male and female) isn’t true. There is a lot to unpack here considering what is going on in our society and culture.
One day the Pharisees were badgering him: “Is it legal for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?” Jesus answered, “Haven’t you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female? And because of this, a man leaves father and mother and is firmly bonded to his wife, becoming one flesh—no longer two bodies but one. Because God created this organic union of the two sexes, no one should desecrate his art by cutting them apart.”
Source: Matthew 19:1-6 (The Message)
What does Jesus think about marriage and divorce?
Jesus has some very clear instructions on marriage and divorce. This is the short version in the Jesus Manifesto (Matthew 5-7). Matthew gives more detail in Matthew 19. It might be useful to consider them both together.
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.“ | Matthew 5:31-32
So here is the longer version from Matthew 19. It seems to me that the religious elites were preoccupied with the grounds for divorce; Jesus with the institution of marriage.
What is the covenant of marriage all about?
Train to Reign Day 1 Week 1 God’s Plan for Family | Learn about the Covenant of Marriage.
This Will Preach — Being married leads to relationship satisfaction!
Married adults have higher levels of relationship satisfaction and trust than those living with a partner. This is the headline one would hope would make the news as opposed to the more clickbait-ish drop in marriage and rise in cohabitation. Anyone in support of marriage should certainly trumpet it loud and clear. When you ask cohabiting couples about satisfaction and trust, specifically if things are going well, only 41% answer in the affirmative. But when you ask those who are married if things are going well, 58% answer in the affirmative. That’s quite a swing.
What is duty in a marriage? What is intimacy?
What is duty in a marriage? What is intimacy?
I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)
For this reason a man shall leave father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. (Matthew 19:5)
…For the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. (Revelations 10:9)
_____________________________________________________
Check out our upcoming ministry programs for young adults and families. Please click here.
Our programs are like an immersion into a new language – the language of living in Jesus. The goal is fluency in the language of relationships. Programs share a sequential vision, building an understanding of relationships and family culture. The foundation is an encounter with Jesus. This encounter is the means for both insight and vision. Encountering Jesus leads a radical change in living and relationships.
Heroes Semester is a 10-week residential, “family style” living experience like no other! | — The 2020 date will be announced soon. | Participants ages 18-26 come with one purpose – to go deeper with the Lord. Learn more about our programs here.
Strengthening & Restoring Family Relationships — Train to Reign Program — Oct 20 – Nov 2 | Family is the most vital relationship and the one under the most pressure and attack. Come strengthen your family in a strong relationship with God. Learn more here.
If you would like to donate to the Christian Training Center, please click here.
How do you build a good foundation for a marriage?
Couples share about their experiences during the Train to Reign Family Program – a two-week course designed to teach practical skills in relationship building and parenting.
_____________________________________________________
Check out our upcoming ministry programs for young adults and families. Please click here.
Our programs are like an immersion into a new language – the language of living in Jesus. The goal is fluency in the language of relationships. Programs share a sequential vision, building an understanding of relationships and family culture. The foundation is an encounter with Jesus. This encounter is the means for both insight and vision. Encountering Jesus leads a radical change in living and relationships.
Heroes Semester is a 10-week residential, “family style” living experience like no other! | — The 2020 date will be announced soon. | Participants ages 18-26 come with one purpose – to go deeper with the Lord. Learn more about our programs here.
Strengthening & Restoring Family Relationships — Train to Reign Program — Oct 20 – Nov 2 | Family is the most vital relationship and the one under the most pressure and attack. Come strengthen your family in a strong relationship with God. Learn more here.
If you would like to donate to the Christian Training Center, please click here.
The Deadly Deception of Sexual Atheism in the Church
Below is an article on The Deadly Deception of Sexual Atheism in the Church by Kenny Luck, founder of Every Man Ministries, men’s pastor at Saddleback Church, and ChristianMingle.com advisory board member, provides biblically oriented teaching and leadership for men and pastors seeking relevant, timely material that battle cultural, worldly concepts threatening men and God’s men. Go to everymanministries.com for more information.
The guy sitting across from me is a professing and practicing Christian. He drops by my office unannounced today to talk to me about his new online-dating life. Specifically, he wants to talk about the over willingness of Christian women he has encountered on several of his dates who want to jump right from a very public conversation and vanilla latte at Starbucks to very private whispers and physical exchanges between the sheets back at his place.
Usually this gender scenario is reversed, but the sex, love and dating landscape continues to move in a progressively liberal direction among Christians without any solid indicators that it will change anytime soon. Both genders today, across all ages and Christian demographics, are prone to compartmentalize their faith away from their sexual life.
While Christian singles report that praying and church attendance are highly desirable qualities in the dating matrix, a troubling and confusing dichotomy arises when the issue of sex before marriage presents itself. Specifically, single Christians enter a sexual fog. That fog clouds and hides the reality that an identity rooted in Christ should manifest itself in intelligent and hope-filled sexual restraint based on God’s promises and instead replaces it with fear and pride-filled choices based on some other promise they believe more.
Read More Here:
If you would like to donate to the Christian Training Center, please click here.
Check out our upcoming ministry programs for young adults and families. Please click here.
Strengthening & Restoring Family Relationships — Train to Reign Program — Oct 20 – Nov 2
Family is the most vital relationship and the one under the most pressure and attack.
Throughout the year, we welcome individuals, couples, and families from around the world who are seeking to strengthen their relationships – with God, within their own families, and with their fellow believers. Every session, individuals, couples, and families from around the world are transformed, healed, and renewed. Barriers to forgiveness, personal growth, and hope are overcome in a supportive and intimate environment. Join us in this safe and holy place where painful and complex situations can be worked through – a place of hope and healing.
Learn more and register
Teaching topics include:
- The Plan of God for Family
- Duty vs Intimacy
- Fatherhood
- Communication
- Covering
- Resolving Conflict
- Defeating Parenting Fears
- Discipline
- …and more!
Learn more and register
Family — Is it the foundation of relationships in God’s Kingdom?
Family is extremely important in the Bible, both in a physical sense and in a spiritual sense. The foundation of family was introduced in the very beginning, as we see in Genesis 1:28.
God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’
God’s plan for creation was for men and women to marry and have children. A man and a woman would form a “one-flesh” union through marriage (Genesis 2:24), and they with their children become a family, the essential building block of human society.
“Haven’t you read in your Bible that the Creator originally made man and woman for each other, male and female?” ~Jesus
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/BibleMarriageGettyImages-157585166-589393295f9b5874ee011e92.jpg?resize=209%2C139&ssl=1)
Jesus wants us to have healthy families. That starts with Godly marriages.
Jesus is put out with the Pharisees. Jesus points them and us to the Bible. I’m afraid some church leaders are not serving us well and are deceiving God’s people by pretending something that God did (make us male and female) isn’t true.
There is a lot to unpack here considering what is going on in our society and culture.
Umbrella Talks – Creating A Spiritual Covering For Our Family (part 12)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks – Creating A Spiritual Covering For Our Family (part 11)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks – Creating A Spiritual Covering For Our Family (part 10)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks – Creating A Spiritual Covering For Our Family (part 9)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks – Creating A Spiritual Covering For Our Family (part 8)
Susan Pons addresses one of the issues of our society as she talks about spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks – Creating A Spiritual Covering For Our Family (part 7)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks: Creating a Spiritual Covering for Our Family (Part 6)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks: Creating a Spiritual Covering for Our Family (Part 5)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks: Creating a Spiritual Covering for Our Family (Part 3)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks: Creating a Spiritual Covering for Our Family (Part 2)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Umbrella Talks: Creating a Spiritual Covering for Our Family (Part 1)
Susan Pons addresses one of the big issues of our society as she talks about establishing spiritual covering in the Christian home and the differences between past and current generations.
Leave & Cleave (3/3)
In these teachings, CTCI Director Susan Pons looks at what it means to follow God’s command to “leave & cleave” in our marriage relationships.
Train to Reign (Update video)
Couples share about their experiences during the Train to Reign Family Program – a two-week course designed to teach practical skills in relationship building and parenting.
To learn more about the Train to Reign Program, click here.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 2)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
Blue & Yellow – Creating Unity in Marriage (5/5)
http://ctcilife.blubrry.net/2015/05/12/blue-yellow-creating-unity-in-marriage-5-5/
In these talks, CTCI Director Larry Pons discusses the importance of creating unity in marriage and gives insight into how to accomplish it with our spouses.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 1)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
Blue & Yellow – Creating Unity in Marriage (4/5)
http://ctcilife.blubrry.net/2015/05/12/blue-yellow-creating-unity-in-marriage-4-5/
In these talks, CTCI Director Larry Pons discusses the importance of creating unity in marriage and gives insight into how to accomplish it with our spouses.
Leave & Cleave (2/3)
In these teachings, CTCI Director Susan Pons looks at what it means to follow God’s command to “leave & cleave” in our marriage relationships.
Leave & Cleave
In these teachings, CTCI Director Susan Pons looks at what it means to follow God’s command to “leave & cleave” in our marriage relationships.
Blue & Yellow – Creating Unity in Marriage (3/5)
http://ctcilife.blubrry.net/2015/05/12/blue-yellow-creating-unity-in-marriage-3-5/
In these talks, CTCI Director Larry Pons discusses the importance of creating unity in marriage and gives insight into how to accomplish it with our spouses.
Blue & Yellow – Creating Unity in Marriage (2/5)
http://ctcilife.blubrry.net/2015/05/12/blue-yellow-creating-unity-in-marriage-2-5/
In these talks, CTCI Director Larry Pons discusses the importance of creating unity in marriage and gives insight into how to accomplish it with our spouses.
Blue & Yellow – Creating Unity in Marriage (1/5)
http://ctcilife.blubrry.net/2015/05/12/blue-yellow-creating-unity-in-marriage-1-5/
In these talks, CTCI Director Larry Pons discusses the importance of creating unity in marriage and gives insight into how to accomplish it with our spouses.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 3)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
The Bond of Peace
I was reading in the book of Ephesians this morning, and my eyes were suddenly glued to chapter 4 verses 1-3. I suppose because The Inn is a forty year-old ministry to the reconciliation of families, I found a new light shining in this scripture:
I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
First Family
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.“ — Ephesians 5:31-33
What a high calling marriage is! The first command God gives to man following the creation of woman is to leave mother and father and cleave to his wife (Genesis 2:24). Adam did not have earthly parents, which makes this scripture, written in the beginning, even more extraordinary and weighty.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 10)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 9)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 8)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 7)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 6)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 5)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
Levels of Communication in Marriage (part 4)
Larry Pons gives practical steps to help couples and individuals learn how to improve the quality of their relationships through proper communication.
The Six Ways to Boost Happiness in Your Marriage | Jim Daly
A lifelong marriage goes through many seasons.
The romantic honeymoon phase kicks off the journey, but soon enough, the couple often enters into the hectic young-children-and-little-sleep stage. Before they know it, those toddlers are teens … and then the high schoolers go off to college.
Pretty soon, that once fresh-faced husband and wife are coming home to an empty nest.
With all of these changes and challenges how can we keep our marriages healthy and happy?
The Seven-Year Itch and the Joy of Lifelong Marriage | Desiring God
German politician Gabriele Pauli shocked her conservative party and sent waves through news outlets worldwide when she proposed in September 2007 that marriage should only last seven years.
Described at the time as “Bavaria’s most glamorous politician,” the 50-year-old, twice-divorced, motorcycle-riding Pauli campaigned for party head, in part, with the hopes of institutionalizing what some have called “the seven-year itch.” Her plan was that marriages would automatically dissolve after seven years, at which point the spouses could renew their union or go along on their own merry ways. Pauli did not win in her bid for party leadership.
Seven-Year What?
The Story of Ian & Larissa | Desiring God
Being a ministry that focuses so intently on relationships, we at CTCI are always excited to hear about and share touching stories of love, healing, and transformation in people’s lives. Here’s a little story that talks about just that, from some people we appreciate at Desiring God. Hope you enjoy!
The most meaningful testimonies I receive are when people tell me that it was a vision of the sovereignty and goodness of God that got them through the most difficult times of their life.
Here is one of those testimonies. I tremble with the glad responsibility of introducing you to Ian & Larissa Murphy in this video. Tremble, because it is their story and so personal. So delicate. So easily abused. So unfinished. Glad, because Christ is exalted over all things.
John Piper
with Josh Etter