Today and tomorrow, we’re bringing you a two-part article on marriage. The article was submitted by Brother Frank Natoli, who says, “Recently, I witnessed a marriage and enjoyed the sermon so much that the words appear below as a testament to the sanctity of the ordinance of marriage that we hold so dear.” The following wedding sermon was given by Brother Thomas D’Orazio.

Since the beginning of time, God never intended man to be alone. In the beginning, God created man in His image and set him in the perfect place of Eden. This place had everything man could ever want. Food and water were abundant. There were trees and grass and animals all around. All of nature was at peace with one another, and the presence of God Himself walked and talked with man.

However, God realized that something was still missing.

“And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make a help meet for him…And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man. 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 shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” (Genesis 2:19, 21-24)

That day, Adam and Eve began their journey together, and they never parted again. They became one in body, mind, and spirit. God created them to love, honor, and cherish one another. They had no choice, for He had made them out of one being — to walk as one, to unite as one, to love as one. Note that Eve was not taken out of the head of man to lord over him or from his foot to be trampled by him, but she was intentionally taken from his side … to be held close to him and to complete the missing piece that protects his heart.

Jesus honored marriage in attending the wedding in Cana of Galilee. It was at this wedding that He performed His first miracle and thus began to manifest His glory to the world (John 2:11). This was, in fact, an affirmation of the sanctity of marriage in the eyes of God. The Lord Himself instructed us to hold our union in the highest regard. He taught us to leave our birth families, putting the newly created family before all others, and to unite with a firm dedication to work through all adversity. We are meant to create an everlasting bond, and when formed as God intended, one that cannot be broken on earth.

There are many other scriptures related to the union between a man and woman, but I will just touch on two. In 1 Corinthians 7:2, it states, “…let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due goodness: and likewise also the wife unto the husband.”

Ephesians 5:25-33 reads, “Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it … So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church … For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh … let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she love her husband.”

In these scriptures we find four important instructions that form the bedrock of any good marriage:

1. Be good to one another (the way we treat one another)

2. Nourish each other (the way we help the other to become stronger)

3. Cherish one another (the way we value one another)

4. Love each other as you love yourself (unselfish consideration of the other)

How wonderful is the thought of a marriage grounded in these principles. To have good intentions toward one another, to strive to care for and enhance and strengthen one another, to adore and value one another, and to love with an unselfish preference for the other is “marriage perfection.” You would be the happiest of all. In particular with Christ as the centerpiece, it is possible to consistently have peace in your home and joy in your hearts —forever.

Come back tomorrow for part two of this article with some practical specifics for each of these four important instructions!

This article has undergone ministry review and approval.