If the ultimate meaning of marriage is to represent the unbreakable covenant-love between Christ and His church (Eph. 5:22-33), then no human being has a right to break a marriage covenant. When the impossible day comes that Christ breaks His vow, "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20), then, on that day, a human being may break his marriage covenant.
Topics: Marriage Source: This Momentary Marriage - A Parable of Permanence, p.168
Staying married, therefore, is not mainly about staying in love. It is about keeping covenant. "Till death do us part" or "As long as we both shall live" is a sacred covenant promise - the same kind Jesus made with His bride when He died for her.
Topics: Marriage Source: This Momentary Marriage - A Parable of Permanence, p. 25
The wonder of marriage is woven into the wonder of the gospel of the cross of Christ, and the message of the cross is foolishness to the natural man, and so the meaning of marriage is foolishness to the natural man (1 Cor. 2:14).
Topics: Marriage, Foolishness Source: This Momentary Marriage - A Parable of Permanence, p. 29
When God stands as witness to the covenant promises of a marriage it becomes more than a merely human agreement. God is not a passive bystander at a wedding ceremony. In effect he says, I have seen this, I confirm it and I record it in heaven. And I bestow upon this covenant by My presence and My purpose the dignity of being an image of My own covenant with My wife, the church.
Topics: Marriage Source: Let None be Faithless to the Wife of his Youth, Sermon, Nov. 22, 1987
When we claim to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and then willfully choose to unite ourselves with an unbeliever in the most intimate personal union on earth we profane the holiness of God. We act as though our emotional drive for human intimacy is more important than affirming the preciousness of God's holiness and nearness.
Topics: Marriage Source: Let None be Faithless to the Wife of his Youth, Sermon, Nov. 22, 1987
If we have no zeal for the glory of God our mercy must be superficial, man-centered human improvement with no eternal significance. And if our zeal for the glory of God is not a reveling in his mercy, than our so-called zeal, in spite of all its protests, is our of touch with God and hypocritical.
So, you have three possibilities in world missions. You can be a goer, a sender, or disobedient. The Bible does not assume that everyone goes. But it does assume that the ones who do not go care about goers and support goers and pray for goers and hold the rope of the goers.
Topics: Missions Source: Holding the Rope, Tabletalk, November, 2008, p. 65.
There are only three kinds of Christians when it comes to world missions: zealous goers, zealous senders, and disobedient.
Money exerts a certain control over us because it seems to hold out so much (false) promise of happiness. It whispers with great force, "Think and act so as to get into a position to enjoy my benefits." This may include stealing, borrowing, or working. Money promises happiness, and we serve it by believing the promise and walking by that faith.
If the ultimate meaning of marriage is to represent the unbreakable covenant-love between Christ and His church (Eph. 5:22-33), then no human being has a right to break a marriage covenant. When the impossible day comes that Christ breaks His vow, "I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20), then, on that day, a human being may break his marriage covenant.