A few days ago Randy Alcorn posted a quote from a book I�ve often recommended�William Farley�s Gospel-Powered Parenting. In this brief excerpt Farley says that your marriage preaches, that it exists to declare something. And here is what he says:
�This mystery [marriage] is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.� Here is Paul�s point. From before time began, God had marriage on his mind. He was preparing a bride for his Son, whom he would marry forever. It would take the crucifixion and resurrection of the Groom to bring this marriage to pass. Think of it. God created the most intimate human relationship, marriage, to speak of the intimacy of his relationship with his church.
God created the institution of human marriage to reflect, or mirror forth, this eternal union. In other words, human marriage exists to point men and angels to the eternal marriage of Christ and his church. The gospel made this divine marriage possible. Here is our point: human marriage exists to preach the gospel. It exists to illustrate the fruit that should follow the preaching of the gospel in the church.
To whom does our marriage preach? Of course, the first audience is God and his angels. They watch and rejoice, or if our marriage is a war zone, they grieve.
Who is the second audience? Most of us think first about our non-Christian neighbors. Maybe they will see our attempts to model Christian marriage and want the gospel? They might, and we hope they will, but actually they are the third audience.
The second audience, usually overlooked by most Christians, is our children. What is our marriage telling them about Christ and his bride? They see it all. They hear our fights. They absorb our attitudes. They know who or what really sits on the throne of our lives. They watch how we handle resentment. They hear the way we talk to each other. They know when we hear the Sunday sermon and apply it. They also know when we ignore it.
The message that our marriage preaches either repels or attracts our children. God wants your child to watch your marriage and think, �I want a marriage like that, and I want the God that produced it.� Or, �When I think of the beauty of the gospel, I think of my parents� marriage. I want to be part of a church that is loved by God the way my dad loves my mother. I want to be part of a church that finds its joy in submitting to Christ as my mother joyfully submits to my father.�
"The message that our marriage preaches either repels or attracts our children. God wants your child to watch your marriage and think, �I want a marriage like that, and I want the God that produced it.� Or, �When I think of the beauty of the gospel, I think of my parents� marriage. I want to be part of a church that is loved by God the way my dad loves my mother. I want to be part of a church that finds its joy in submitting to Christ as my mother joyfully submits to my father.�
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While this may appeal to some, this is totally WRONG!
This reminds me of the passage where Abraham and Lazarus are in Abraham's bosom, and the rich man is across the gulf, that has been fixed so that Lazarus cannot traverse the gulf to the rich man to give him a drop of water, and that the rich man cannot traverse it, as well.
The rich man, after his infamous request of "a drop of water," then asks that "Lazarus be sent to my father and brothers to warn them not to come," to which Abraham replies that "they have Moses and the prophets, let them believe them!"
The rich man stresses that if "one went to them from the dead, that they will believe." Abraham tells him, that he is COMPLETELY WRONG, and tells him of the mystery of the Eternal Power of God's Holy Word being necessary to resurrect one from the dead, stating, "THEY HAVE MOSES AND THE PROPHETS..IF THEY DON'T BELIEVE THEM, THEY WILL NOT BE PERSUADED THOUGH ONE AROSE FROM THE GRAVE!"
This notion that your children merely look at you as an example for living, negates the necessity of the Powerful Word of God to equip a man in life..
You would not have a mind, if it were not for the Divine Proportion contained in the creation and its wondrous ability that has shaped and expanded the intellect of man. The Word of God is necessary for developmental functionality, which without man would not even be able to exist, let alone think, rationalize, or measure anything, least of all your performance as a parent..
The notion that people somehow look at you and learn, is woefully deficient, as it eliminates the purpose of wisdom. When we look at some one, for whatever reason, and contrast their example(s) whatever they may or may not be, it is the Word of God, that ALONE teaches us, what is right in life.. when examined in light of their behavior.. This is how LIGHT and DARKNESS function.. and we learn to follow after the LIGHT..
