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The Harvester Podcast is brought to you by the Florida School of Preaching. Listen weekly to take a dive into biblical topics and thoughtful studies on things that matter to our eternal souls.
We welcome you to this fourth season of the Harvester podcast.
We are glad you are joining us for this first episode of our fourth season.
We are going to address the subject of marriage as it relates to 1st Corinthians chapter 7
and we have entitled this season number four, The Expediences of Marriage.
The Expediences of Marriage.
and marriage as you might know is a fundamental institution of humanity from the sixth day
of creation when God ordained marriage until now marriage between one husband and one wife
has been God's design for the basis of the human family in fact some have called it the
first institution that God has created or established the second being human government
and the third being the church
but we will explore in this episode some of the preliminaries to getting to first
corinthians chapter seven it is a potentially controversial chapter but it does have a lot
of good things and things that we need to know about marriage not only just for the sake
of the preserving god's design for marriage but also for those involved in marriage to
know what marriage is all about and the expediencies are involved in marriage
And as I mentioned before, get into those expediencies from first Corinthians seven.
Oh, by the way, I'm your host, Brian Kenyon, and we will have other co-hosts throughout
this season, Lord willing.
this is a very busy time here with the Florida school of preaching.
And so we're going to do what we can in the podcast here to get it going and be
consistent.
But as I mentioned before, we get into the details of first Corinthians seven.
We want to look at a few very basic.
passages about marriage and we'll need to have a knowledge of that before we can get into
first corinthians seven because even though it talks about things that are nowhere else
spoken about concerning marriage in the bible it's still based upon the fundamental
principles that we find in marriage and so just as if i were going to give a sermon on the
new testament church i would definitely start with matthew chapter sixteen uh...
sixteen to eighteen
and so it is with marriage because that's when jesus promised to build a church and that's
really the basis of the church even though we do have prophecies in the old testament you
have other things like that but what jesus said about it is the basis of it uh...
in the new testament so marriage if we're gonna look at the fundamentals of marriage we
need to go to genesis chapters one and two genesis chapters one and two and so if you turn
there in your bubbles with me in those two two chapters
course if you're driving down the road listen to this in the car i'm gonna read the
passage for you see you don't need to get your bible but keep your eyes on the road but we
do appreciate you listening as when jenesis chapter one we do have the creation of the
universe and we have their their six days of creative activity and of course jenesis one
you know naturally kind of divides itself verses one and two as kind of an introduction
of what's going to take place and verses three through thirty one and we do know that
there were six days of creative activity exodus tells us no you're not then six days god
created the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that in them is exodus twenty verse
eleven and so there were six days of creative activity and those days are detailed
somewhat uh...
in verses three through thirty one of genesis chapter one
and then of course a conclusion to the creation week is found in genesis chapter two
verses one through three where you know god rested on the seventh day but it does say that
god created everything in the six days and then he rested on the seventh day and he
blessed it any rested from all his labor work which he had created and made and so how you
have that naturally there will man and
woman, humanity, was created on the sixth day of creation.
In verse 26, God said, us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, even every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
So God created man in his own image, and in the image of God created he him.
Notice male and female created he
them.
And so we were created in God's image and likeness on the sixth day of creation.
Well, in Genesis chapter 2, beginning in verse 4, although some teach this is a new
creation, it's not a new creation, but it is a more detailed account of some parts of
creation.
More details in verses given in chapter 2,
that give details to chapter one three two thirty one and of course one of those when he
gets down to the end in verse twenty actually verse eighteen genesis two verse eighteen he
gives more details about marriage and so this is the basis of marriage and let me read
these verses to you and we'll discuss them briefly and the lord god said is not good that
the man should be alone
i will make him a helper comparable and reading from the new king james translation out of
the ground the lord god formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air and
brought them to adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever adam called every
living creature that was its name so adam gave names to all this cattle to the birds of
the air to every beast of the field but for adam there was not found
a helper comparable to him.
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, he slept, and he took one of his
ribs and closed up the flesh in its place.
Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man, he made into a woman, and he
brought her to the man and said, and Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of
my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.
Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall
become one flesh.
And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed." And again, that's
Genesis 2 verses 18 through 25 where God through Moses gives more details about marriage
which was created on the sixth day of creation as we see here.
now the these verses i can i've broken up in the kind of three three main points that
apply to marriage number one is mankind needs intimate companionship mankind needs
intimate companionship and that's in verses eighteen through twenty and i was on it
intriguing for adam to name all the animals you know why would god do that
and number one of course it would show his dominion over the fish in the sea and cattle in
the birds of the air but also it makes a point to adam that god already knew about and
that is in verse eighteen the lord god said it's not good that the man should be alone and
so i will make him a helper comparable or in the old king james says they help meet some
translations have a helper suitable to him and we'll talk more about that in just a moment
but for now notice that god knew there was not good for the man to be alone so he said i
will make him a helper comparable but now you see with the naming of those animals as an
adam names all the animals at the end of verse twenty but for adam there was not found a
helper comparable to him and so adam now knows what god already knew that it's not good
for the man to be alone
that will make him a helper comparable and so adam knows that there's not a helper for him
even though i see name the animals he obviously made them new but they were male and
female that you know never that was god calls in the walk before adam or whatever but
however they were presented to adam they were presented male and female even though male
and female for animals is not listed until you get to the flood narratives
but there had to be a male and female for them to produce after their own kind and so
mankind needs intimate companionship god knew that and now adam knows that after he names
the animals secondly intimate companionship that got that mankind needs is found in the
opposite sex or the opposite gender and i know sex and gender have come under
scrutiny in the past uh...
five years especially maybe even longer than that five or ten years but we know that
there's only male or female that human and a human race is binary that is there's either
male or female and that's it and we can save more details of that for another time even
though we touched upon it maybe in season one of this podcast in one of the episodes there
but now you see secondly cuz notice now the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam
and some have compared this deep sleep to like uh...
a seed in the wintertime you know it comes and drops off the tree in the fall and then in
the wintertime it goes into this deep freeze and then when the spring comes out it springs
into new life and so some have compared that to this the deep sleep that fell upon Adam
but when that happened God took one of his ribs the the text says
and he closed up the flesh thereof and so he made that woman god created the woman from
that real now he created man from the dust of the earth and breathe into his nostrils the
breath of life genesis two seven but the woman was created from him now of course you will
also go back to the dust at the at the end of her life as will the man but this is
interesting that he created her from his side and so when he brought her to adam
god did not have to formally introduce her because adam immediately recognized this is now
bone in my bones and flesh of my flesh she shall be called woman because she was taken out
of man and so he immediately recognized that she was of the same nature as him and that
she was not like any of the animals that he had just named but she was just like him only
different
she was the perfect compliment to what he was and i heard a series of lessons several
years ago about hoes on the lessons were about homosexuality and of course the preacher
and it was it more of a bob a class situation and he of course gave all the passages and
such particularly roman chapter one versus twenty six to twenty seven the talked about how
homosexuality is unnatural but one of the things he did is after he went through all the
passages he talked about
he showed that you really have to know the bible to know that man with man or woman with
woman in an intimate sense is just not right and he threw it there a couple silhouettes of
a man and a woman and he said just from those silhouettes of the profile of their body you
can tell that they compliment one another but they belong to one another they're the
perfect compliment to one another
and then he threw up there that that same silhouette of two men and it just didn't look
right and that same silhouette of two women and that just didn't look right and so mankind
the intimate companionship that mankind's needs is found in the opposite sex the opposite
gender and so that is the second point so bone in my bones flesh in my flesh notice he
shall be called woman because she was taken out of man and that word woman
comes to us in english from wound man wound man and when you think about the nature's the
human nature's of men and women they are the same except for the reproductive organs and
as i like to say the wiring that goes with it you know the disposition that goes with it
but we have the same blood we have the same flesh et cetera et cetera we are of the same
nature and there's no other
part of creation that has the same nature as humans of course we noted back in genesis one
twenty six and twenty seven that there's no part of creation that said to be made in the
image and likeness of god only humans and that is very significant and will say the
details of that for another podcast or another lesson somewhere down the future but
mankind number one mankind needs intimate companionship
number two that intimate companionship is found in the opposite sex and then number three
that intimate companionship found in the opposite success or gender is to be fulfilled in
marriage it is to be fulfilled in marriage notice in verse twenty four of our text
therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall
become one flesh
and so the therefore is is as we've often heard is there for a reason because of this
special creation of the woman there must exist a special relationship and that
relationship is described as marriage a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh and then the chapter ends and they were
both naked the man and his wife and they were not ashamed
And this is before sin entered into the picture, of course, and we don't know how much
time elapsed between Genesis 2.25 and Genesis 3.1.
Seems to have been a very short time.
And I would even argue it could have been the very seventh day of creation, but we'll save
that for another lesson as well.
But the point is, God intended the home to be a place of peace and harmony where there is
no shame, from verse 25.
But, of course, sin enters into the picture.
and it messes all that up as it does a whole bunch of other things as well uh...
about the human existence okay uh mankind needs intimate companionship that intimate
companionship is fulfilled in the there is to be found in the opposite gender or sex and
that intimate companionship found in the opposite gender or sex is to be fulfilled in
marriage now before we leave this i want to point out
uh...
five important truths about god ordained marriage five important truths about the
relationship of god ordained marriage number one it is to be in a monogamous relationship
in monogamous relationship of course in our day in age today we need to say a monogamous
heterosexual relationship notice a man and his wife a man and his wife one-man one-wife
for life that relationship is to be a companionship relationship a companionship
relationship uh...
notice she is to be a help me it's not good that the man should be alone i will make a
help me or a helper comparable to him
and again that word means suitable uh...
it is to be a companionship relationship we will get into this when we get into first
corinthians seven particularly verse fifteen but marriage has never been a master-slave
relationship even though there have been people throughout different cultures the world
history who have seemed to looked at marriage as such but god never intended marriage
to be a master-slave relationship even though we do know that the head the husband is that
to be the head of the wife from ephesians chapter five we know those roles are their
president and we'll get some of that throughout this season as well when we examine first
quentin seven so we know that there are different roles in marriage husband is to be the
head of the house and uh...
that's true and but the head of the house doesn't mean he's a master over a slave but she
is to be his companionship
his companion a helper suitable to him a companionship relationship so it is a monogamous
relationship a companionship relationship uh...
also is to be a committed relationship a commitment relationship notice
well actually before we we look at the commitment notices to be an interdependent
relationship and inter dependent relationship not independent but intern dependent this
means that husband and wife are to rely upon one another for this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother and so he is to leave
uh...
husband wife or to leave father and mother now of course this was said that adam about
adam in the garden and adam you know he only had and we were created directly by god but
this was written for future generations including us that this intimate convention to
leave father and mother now this doesn't mean that we have nothing to do with father
mother but it simply means when husband wife married their their own
home there their own family and although father mother can be an influence we can go to
father mother for advice for questions and all that but that relationship that home is now
a new home and husband and wife must rely upon one another and not their parents anymore
and so one of the worst things that can happen is if we experience marital trouble and i'm
gonna go back move in with mom and dad for a while you know no no working out ourselves
because
husband wife must rely and depend upon one another in this new new family and so it's a
monogamous relationship a companionship relationship and interdependent relationship and
then uh...
fourthly is to be a committed relationship for this car shell a man leave father and
mother and shall cleave or to be joined to his wife
and that word cleaver to be joined to in the new king james translation that's the idea of
commitment that means to be glued to to be adhered to and so the uh...
let's see you d i v o r c e that seven-letter d word should not even be an option uh...
in the minds of a husband wife coming together in marriage
uh...
it and i we i know we live in a disposable society we live in a trial before you buy it
society but that's not the way marriage is and that's not the way it was ordained it is to
be a commitment relationship now when these verses were written by moses and even much of
the new testament verses about marriage most of the marriages were arranged by parents
that is husband wife sometimes didn't even know each other until that wedding day took
place the verses are still there and in our culture today in american culture we don't no
our marriages are usually not arranged although some parents say you know work hard at it
but you know where we're allowed to date were allowed to choose we're going to get to know
our are potential spouse
and i would encouraging i would encourage dating for a long time if possible just to get
to know that's not necessary i've known people that knew each other for two weeks and were
married fifty something years and seem to be happy and god ordained marriage and so but in
our culture we have a uh...
an opportunity to get to know the person that we're going to marry and so i would advise
that we take advantage of that because we want to be able to commit to somebody and we
want to have some certain things compatible
and first britain seven talking about a lot of those things as well and so but they
commitment relationship when we agreed to be engaged to get be married we are committing
we're gonna work on that commitment now we can call it off right before the ideas if we
need to in fact one popular preacher who just passed away used to have a a sermon he went
around preaching in gospel meetings and that sermon title was the time to get a divorce
the time to get a divorce
and when you hear that title you think man this guy's gonna teach false doctrine there's
no time to get a divorce because this is a committed relationship but when you listen to a
sermon what he meant by that is and it was a good attractive or attention-getting device
the title of it but what he meant by that the time to get a divorce is before you get
married because once we say i do we need to be staying that relationship according to
genesis two twenty four and by the way i want to mention this right here list i forget
the genesis two twenty four is given right here and this is under the patriarchal period
even though moses right it he's writing about the time that we would call the patriarchal
period and jesus quotes this verse in matthew chapter nineteen verses five and six and
uh...
he is quoting that living in his quoting that to the jewish Pharisees and such those who
tested him and so this first applied to the most in the mosaic law
and then if he's in chapter five verses thirty one to thirty three paul quotes this person
applies it in the christian age and so this this verse this principle uh...
this relationship that we're talking about here in genesis two twenty four not a church of
christ thing it's not a jewish law of moses thing it's a human thing it is for
creation all humanity from the sixth day until the last generation standing when the lord
returns uh...
and that's something that people miss it applies to heathens it applies to christians it
applies to any person in any religion god's law on marriage is applicable and it is to be
a monogamous relationship a companionship relationship
an interdependent relationship a commitment relationship and then fifthly it is to be a
permanent relationship a permanent relationship for this cause shall a man leave his
father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh marriage is a
one flesh relationship now this this does involve
the sexual the intimate relationship that's only for husband and wife that intimate
relationship there's nothing dirty about it there's nothing bad about it there's nothing
evil about it if it is fulfilled within a god-ordained marriage and so it's permanent yes
the one flesh deals with that intimate relationship
but even more important even more significant is talking about the permanency of marriage
as long as husband and wife are in this flesh then they are to be one they are to remain
married and when we examine biblical teaching about marriage we find that they're only
that only when that one flesh relationship is broken
does God allow for a remarriage?
And that one flesh relationship, number one, is broken by death.
When one spouse passes away, is no longer with us, then they cannot be one flesh.
And so God allows remarriage under those situations.
And of course, God does, you know, in 1 Corinthians 7 verse 39, He does
talk about that about widows remarrying only in the Lord and we will talk about that in
due time during this season but uh the season of this podcast but you know when a spouse
dies that one flesh relationship is broken and then secondly that one flesh relationship
is broken through fornication through fornication in Matthew chapter 19 and verse 9
whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication
could and marries another uh...
commits adultery and so we will look at this in more detail in our next uh...
episode as we look at preliminary passages before we get into first corinthians seven but
fornication within a marriage uh...
does break that one flesh relationship now that doesn't mean that automatically husband
wife must divorce
but Jesus did give that option Jesus did give that option and uh This will come out also
in first Corinthians 7 15 when we talk about You know if uh if a spouse departs You know
we are not under bondage and we'll talk about that um But I just say for now that under
bondage there is the word for slavery enslaved and that word enslaved uh do la oh
is never used for the marriage relationship.
There's another word, deo, in the Greek text is used for bound, the marriage bond.
You know, a wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives.
That word bound is from a different word than not under bondage in 1 Corinthians 7.15, and
we'll talk about that in due time.
But the marriage relationship was never intended to be a master-slave relationship.
and so god allows for the case of fornication he allows uh...
the innocent for occasion spouse to put away the innocent for occasion spouse in a
scriptural divorce he allows the innocent for occasion spouse to remarry with his approval
and that's found in matthew nineteen nine and it like i say what have more details about
that in our next episode it is to be a
marriage is god ordained is to be a permanent relationship and only when that one flesh
relationship is broken does that marriage cease to exist and of course it's that way in
death there's no way to bring somebody back from the dead and so that marriage uh...
is is is ended and so the surviving spouse is free to remarry but only one who is eligible
in god's eyes
according to god's teaching only one who is eligible to be married issues to issues able
to reach remarry and then in the case of fornication that one flesh relationship is broken
uh...
and here the innocent fornication spouse does have an option uh...
to put away the guilty of fornication spouse and again god does not require it to be put
away but god allows it and if the
innocent a fornication spouse so chooses to put away his wife under those circumstances
and he chooses to remarry that marriage is legitimate in the eyes of god as long as he's
married someone eligible by god to to me to remarry and we should not think of that
marriage is second class or second rate and i know in the past churches of christ and
often looked at second marriages and look down on those even though they're scriptural
and that you should not be but we'll talk about more than future episodes in this season
marriage is a very potentially controversial subject but god gave us marriage for a reason
and their reason is because mankind needs intimate companionship that intimate
companionship is found in the opposite sex or gender
and that intimate companionship found in the opposite sex or gender is fulfilled in the
marriage relationship and god knows us he knows what's best for us and so he created
marriage now we'll get into this in first quentin seven dot just mentioned here by way of
introduction in first quentin seven verses three through five you know marriage there's
some
some responsibilities in marriage and so forth but marriages is a good thing and you know
when we put the total teaching of the bible together you know marriages for companionship
as we see here in genesis is also for procreation we see that in genesis chapter one
twenty eight and god's ideal will is for children to be part of a family to be born into a
family that has a
husband and wife now i know there are lot of single parent homes around here and single
parent homes where usually is the father that leaves and sometimes it's the mother but the
you know single parent homes can be successful in rearing children and nurture and
admonition of the Lord it'll take a lot of extra work but you know even in a regular
marriage raising children is is challenging and difficult
And so parents who are single raising their children, you are doing a great job.
You can still bring them up in the nurture admonition of the Lord and we pray for you and
we can want to help you in any way we can.
but again, God's ideal will is it's just easier and it's better for children to be brought
up in a good loving home, all kinds of things with that.
but that's, that's another lesson as well.
but that's God's intent.
And so, and I know it used to be.
when i was younger used to be babies at a wedlock children at a wedlock was looked down
upon they were usually accidental mistakes but nowadays and i know this firsthand from
talking to people there in those situations that a lot of times today women will have
children and wedlock on purpose on purpose and that's just not god's intent but marriage
you know god you know marriages for companionship
is for procreation and it is also to fulfill the intimate relationship that God knows that
husband and wife need.
And as Thomas Warren said in his book, Marriages for Those that Love God and Love One
Another, you know, he calls that intimate relationship the added language of marriage.
And we will talk about that once we get into our study in 1 Corinthians 7.
But this uh is very important for us to get the foundation
of god's law on marriage and so that's what we have done in this this episode we are very
glad that you have joined us and uh...
we look forward to a great season four as we talk about expediencies of marriage from
first corinthians chapter seven and feel free to give us content of feedback through email
or through uh...
social media we'd love to hear from you but we thank you for joining us in this first
episode of season four
expediencies of marriage and we hope that you will join us again in our next episode