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Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, June 29, 2008

7th Sunday after Pentecost 06/28/08 Text: Romans 7:1-13 Title: Marriage and Death

7th Sunday after Pentecost
06/29/07
Text: Romans 7:1-13
Title: Marriage and Death
Every married couple will recognize the words, “Until death parts us.” Those words stand at the heart of the marriage vows. They express the fundamental truth on which marriage is built. God alone is able to unite a woman and man into one flesh. Therefore God alone can bring that union of one flesh to an end, for Jesus in Matthew 19:6 proclaims, “What therefore God has joined together, not man separate.”
Marriage is not a union of human wills, although that is the way we think of it. Marriage does not consist merely in the choice of a man and a woman. Marriage is an act of God, by which he joins the woman to the man and thus the man to the woman into one essence, as she becomes flesh of his flesh, bone of his bones.
The word of God teaches us that the marriage God created between a man and a woman is an earthly picture of the marriage that was created between God and his human creation by the death of Jesus which leads to the death of sin, our spouse.
This is why Paul, in our Epistle reading from Romans, uses marriage as an illustration to make his point. The law of marriage, as God intended it, was that the woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive. The same thing is true of the husband since the woman is bound he is also bound to her. God’s Holy Word uses, in fact, stresses, the illustration of a woman being bound to her husband, so I will proceed with this particular illustration, as Paul did to help you understand what he is talking about in this particular section of Romans.
This particular text this morning can be very confusing, but when you take the text a little at a time it makes sense. A married person is no longer bound by the laws of the marriage when the marriage is no more, especially when the spouse has died, for the dead spouse can no longer fulfill the marriage contract. The surviving spouse, in this case a woman, is free to marry again, to become, by law, bound again to another man in marriage.
As we are all painfully aware humans are bound to sin. The natural law, present in all people whether they are believers or not, tell us that. Those who know of God’s Law know in a deeper way that we are bound to sin, for the Word of God makes that quite clear.
Saint Paul is using this illustration of marriage to teach about a heavenly mystery. This is what I mean. The man in the marriage stands for sin. The law of marriage stands for the Laws of God. The woman stands for the human race.
Now Paul in this illustration points out that according to the law of marriage, if a woman, it could be a man, has a relationship a person other than the spouse she would be considered to have committed adultery. It is still true today. For you cannot be bound to one relationship while being bound in another relationship. Now I understand that there are people who do that, at least for a time, but in God’s sight it cannot be. It is sort of like trying to be completely loyal to two different people or jobs. You simply cannot be 100% bound to two different things. That is what Saint Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is pointing out.
Before we became Christians we were married to sin. Natural Law and the Law of God tell us so. Satan uses the Law to accuse us, which can make us turn away from God. Does that make the Law bad? Of course it does not, for one of the God given purposes of the Law is to show us that the Law is incapable of making us righteous before God.
The Law in this form brings life to sin. It has to; for without our knowing of the sin we would not know sin and its punishment, thus we would not seek relief from the sin we are married to. Just as in God’s law concerning marriage, “To death do we part,” the only way to be free of our marriage to sin is that sin has to die.
Jesus in his death and resurrection ended your marriage to sin. This happened because in that death and resurrection he killed sin. And in doing so has set you free to marry again. Not to marry another, as in sin, but to marry Christ, except now the marriage that we are use to, that we are many times so comfortable with, has changed, for in this marriage with Christ you are no longer bound by Law, for this new marriage with Christ gives you Christ’s righteousness. You are now married to a spouse that in whom there is no sin, in which there is no death, who is the perfect spouse who truly loves you.
“Until death parts us” in the marriage ceremony is a constant reminder that someday our earthly marriages will end in grief. However in light of Christ’s victory over sin death has parted us from our marriage to sin. And because we are now through our baptism, the marriage ceremony, married to Christ, we are not to be chasing after our old spouse; sin, for to do this is to commit adultery, which will result in our spiritual and, yes, even our eternal physical death.
I say that because when Jesus comes back to raise all people from the dead, reuniting them with their souls. Those who were not faithful in their marriage to Christ will be sent to hell for eternity, while those who remained faithful in their marriage to Christ will spend eternity in bliss in the new heaven and earth.
Think about that for a moment. What a picture. Imagine spending eternity with God, and Abraham, and Moses, and all the saints. It is going to be wonderful. As wonderful as it will be, this marriage is not just about eternity. It is also about our lives here, right now, as we live them. For when you are married to Christ your life will change. I want to, at this time, show you a film clip that really touched me, for it shows what can and does happen when a person is united to Christ in this holy marriage. For those reading this sermon you can go to the following link to view the clip on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ
What you saw is what we, as a kingdom church, are to be about. Who do you know that you would like to be in heaven with you? You know someone, but are afraid to talk to them. Remember these two things. The Word of God changes lives and God has already given you the words and the ability to tell others about the healing power of Jesus’ blood. Amen