Introduction

  • Genesis 2:18-25 – God created the marriage relationship.

Stats from Barna

  • Currently married: 46% (down from 66% in the 1950s)
  • Cohabitation is considered morally acceptable by a majority of people.
  • God’s marriage law has not changed.
  • Christians are experiencing divorce as often as the general population now.
  • Young people believe in marriage less and less.

What is the standard?

  • Mark 7:8
  • Is it possible for people who have been married a long time to give bad advice? Yes!

Let’s start with some basic Bible truths.

  • Ecclesiastes 11:9
  • II Timothy 4:3-4
  • James 1:21-25

Companionship, part 1

God’s purpose in marriage

  • Genesis 1:27, 31 – God’s creation was “very good”
  • Genesis 2:18 – At the beginning of Day 6, Adam’s situation was described by God as “not good.”
  • Genesis 2:22 – Eve was created during Day 6 to solve the problem of Adam’s loneliness. That was the purpose of Eve – not to help him in the garden. Her purpose was companionship.
  • Malachi 2:14

When we stop sharing life together, the marriage erodes.

  • Ephesians 5:25, 28, 33
  • Titus 2:4
  • Dave Carder – “Anatomy of an Affair”
    • Tell-tale signs of a degrading marriage
  • Romans 12:15
  • “When you are in pain, the world stops and I listen.”