1: The Spin: It’s okay to live together you don’t have to get married.

(Definition of “spin”, when an idea or situation is expressed or described in a clever way that makes it seem better than it really is, especially in politics:)

2: The Truth: God designed marriage; He ordained it to be between one man and one woman for life. No compatibility testing, premarital sex, or multiple partners.

3: Perfect Paradigm: Two mature believers, one male, one female, both understanding the predesigned plan of God, to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom 8v28-29), understanding the mechanics of the Spiritual way of life and walking moment by moment by means of the Holy Spirit (Eph 5v18).

4:Marriage Today: Marriage today in society is getting to be the exception as apposed to the rule. Fewer and fewer people want to get married and of those who do, more and more are getting divorced. The media portrays marriage as something to be taken very lightly. The movies, soap operas, the adverts we watch, the magazines we read are all promoting promiscuous lifestyles, sex before marriage is okay, “try before you buy” and many more connotations that say, “You don’t need to get married.” Many of the comedy soaps portray the man as the fool and the woman being the head. The complete opposite of the structure God has ordained.

Even Government in a subtle way is against promoting marriage, offering couples that live together, including gays and lesbians, the same rights and benefits that married couples get and in some cases they are given more. The view is, “if we can get the same either way, why get married?”

We see in general, across the board, a trend away from marriage. People today are living in a time of moral relativity. Everyone doing what is right in their own eyes. Not having any standard to live to.” If it feels right, do it!”

5: Marriage and Christian Marriage Contrasted: These two are not the same. Yes they may have similarities but the basis and foundation for both are not.

Marriage today is based on, in many cases:

A: Love- personal love. I love you, you love me.

B: Emotion- you make me feel good.

C: Sex.

D: Security/Ego/Sense of belonging- I need to have someone to make me secure.

E: Money- if I get married their money will be mine!

(This list is not exhaustive but a representation of the main foundations for marriage)

Anyone who has been married for more than 2 weeks will realise that these things alone cannot sustain a marriage.

Christian marriage however is something far more than just love, sex, emotion etc etc. Yes these things are part of it. They are by-products of it. In fact, in Christian Marriage these by-products will be so much more satisfying and intense because they are rooted and grounded in a Christ centred life.

Christian marriage has a basis, a foundation and a purpose, which we are going to look at. It is rooted and grounded in glorifying Jesus Christ. The purpose of Christian Marriage is to resolve an objection raised by satan in a spiritual battle called the “Angelic Conflict”. Satan has argued that since the first marriage failed in the Garden of Eden, no marriage can succeed. When there are two people fulfilling the perfect model of point 3, what we have is an answer against satan and for God in this “courtroom battle” resulting in maximum glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. Simply put, satan said,” marriage cannot succeed”, God said, “look at Joe and Mary, they are succeeding in it.

6: Angelic Conflict: Matthew 25 v41 tells us that hell has been prepared for the devil and his angels. Revelation 20v10 tell us when the devil is going to go there. By means of inductive reasoning, we can see that human history is sandwiched between the sentencing of satan and the execution of this sentence. Therefore human history has to have something to do with the judgement upon satan, hence the “Angelic Conflict.” We reason together that satan has appealed his case and God is giving him his chance to vindicate himself. However, in every objection that he raises, God will answer him and, God will be the one who is vindicated.

In the “Church Age”, we have the opportunity as believers to be part of this vindication of God the Father. If you imagine it like a large courtroom scene, God is the judge, satan is the defendant and there are various types of witnesses of which we are going to look at three.

1^st: Jesus Christ- Jesus the unique God – Man. Unique in that He is God and unique that he is Man. For thirty years he lived as a man and operated by the means of the Holy Spirit. For thirty years, in every situation and circumstance in life, He made the right decision and never sinned. Therefore, while satan may argue that Adam, the first man, created perfectly fell, Gods answer to that was Jesus Christ, who while tempted, never sinned.

2^nd: Church age believers: have the opportunity to vindicated the name of God, by walking by means of the Holy Spirit, the same power that Jesus used. This power available to us was never given to any other member of any dispensation before or in any dispensation to come. Church age believers are unique. We have the indwelling of the three persons of the Godhead, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is why the mandates for the Christian are much greater than ever before because we have so much power available to us. The question is; are we going to learn about it and use it? When we do, we have the opportunity to become a witness in the courtroom scene and vindicate God the Father. ” Here is a man, created lower than you satan, operating in my plan, doing my will by my means. Therefore satan, you could have but did not therefore I am justified in sending you to the lake of fire.”

3^rd: Christian Marriage: as well as individual believers having the opportunity to become witnesses for God, Christian Marriage has an opportunity to be a 3^rd witness in this courtroom scene. During “Church Age”, Christian marriage has taken on far greater aspects than ever before. Married believers have a very special witness for the prosecution in the appeal trial of satan and all angelic creatures are watching very carefully. Never before in history has so much power been given to individuals. Therefore the mandates of Christian marriage are so much greater than before. When two believers are operating together inside the predesigned plan of God, both understanding the mechanics of the spiritual way of life and walking moment by moment by means of the spirit, this becomes a wonderful, powerful testimony to the plan of God and the power he has made available and as a witness against satan in the courtroom of heaven, where satan has argued that marriage cannot work. God can say to him, “have you seen my servants, Joe and Mary?”

If we look at the story of Job, here we have a wonderful account of how the angelic conflict is worked out in human history. Job 1 and 2 tell us how satan and his angels came to God and God asked satan had he seen his servant Job that there was none like him, a perfect und upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. (In the Church Age, this would be the equivalent to a mature believer.) Here we have the God of the universe, “bragging” to satan about Job. What follows is an account of Job being used as a witness in the courtroom trial. Satan argued that Job only served God because He blessed him and God said, “okay, test him”. That does not make any sense unless we see this thing in the light of the big picture called the angelic conflict. Why would God allow satan to test Job in the manner he did if there were no conflict. It makes God out to be a fiend. However, Job past the tests and God blessed him twice as much as he had to start with.

7: Purpose of Christian Marriage: I believe that Christian married couples, have the opportunity to be a “Job” and be entered as a witness into the trial, to allow satan to test them. It is called, “suffering for blessing”. While to some, this may not sound appealing, to those who understand the plan of God, this is the greatest privilege can ever be given to an individual believer or a married couple. To have God, “brag” about them in heaven. (Try to imagine what it would be like to have the President of the United States mention your name in the White House or on TV in front of the nations as a perfect citizen. Would that be a great honour and privilege?)

God has provided everything we need to fulfil this. He has given us the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

A great analogy of the Holy Spirit and how He works in Christian Marriage is the car engine. Without oil in the engine, there would be friction and would heat up to the point were it would cease. The oil then is the lubricant between the moving parts keeping them from becoming abrasive and wearing out against each other. Likewise the Holy Spirit becomes like the oil in the engine. He is the lubricant between the couple that stops the friction. Agape love is the first fruit of the Spirit. That unconditional, impersonal love that we will produce when walking by means of the spirit.

8: Conclusion:

A: The world today wants us to believe that it’s okay to live together and not get married. This trend is deceiving “Christians” to the point were they believe it, because they do not have any answers because of lack of doctrine in their souls. Therefore they don’t know what their purpose is for life, therefore have no idea what the purpose of marriage is.

B: Christian marriage and marriage are not the same. Marriage seeks to satisfy itself, Christian marriage seeks to glorify God.

C: Human history is about the resolution of a spiritual battle called the “angelic conflict”. We are either part of the solution or part of the problem. We cannot be on the sidelines. If you are alive you are in it.

D: Christian marriage has a great purpose in the resolution of this battle namely to answer objections that satan has raised. We have the opportunity to answer these objections through our lifestyle and walk by means of the spirit. We have the great honour and privilege of becoming key witnesses for God and have Him “brag” about us in the courtroom of heaven.

E: Young people need to know this so when the world system and its peer pressure is pushing them to go contrary to the Word of God, they will have the doctrine in their souls to do the right thing.

F: Older people and married couple need to know this to ensure they are aiming at the right goal