Don’t be afraid to accept help in living God’s plan

After Wednesday night worship I was making announcements and mentioned the Marriage Retreat we are holding this weekend for couples at the Alaska Sunset View Resort on Big Lake. One of those attending worship joked that they would like to go to the lodge, but couldn’t attend because they weren’t married. I was being “discriminatory.”

I replied, also somewhat joking, that marriage was part of God’s plan for his creation, and married people had special problems and needed special help.

Those words may have been said in a joking manner, but I believe what was said. I do believe that marriage is God’s plan and married people need special help. Jesus himself said this in Matthew 19, 4: “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

In a recent gathering of pastors we discussed the topic of things you aren’t supposed to talk about. Maybe a better title would be, “Things people wish pastors didn’t talk about.”

God’s plan for sexuality and marriage is one of those topics. But it is obvious that Jesus talked about God’s plan and God’s help for marriage. The church is called to share the “whole will of God” (Acts 20:27). I believe a faithful pastor speaks God’s Word to help people with God’s plan.

Some lessons we can learn from these words in Matthew 19 from Jesus himself include that marriage is God’s plan from creation, from the beginning. God intends marriage to be between one man and one woman.

When a man and a woman are married, they become one. Jesus indicates that this physical, spiritual and social unity are intended by God to last until death.

There are certain practices that are common today that are not part of God’s plan. Sex outside of marriage is not part of God’s plan. Sex between those who are not a married man and woman is not part of God’s plan. Divorce is not part of God’s plan. I know that these teachings 50, 40, even 30 years ago would have been considered so accepted that they didn’t need mentioning, but are controversial today. God’s plan for creation continues to be the healthiest, most joyful and most fulfilling way to live. Yet, you and I all know people who struggle to live God’s plan. In honesty, all of us struggle and we all need God’s help.

That is why Jesus spoke these words in the verse above. It is not just people today who struggle with God’s plan for marriage and sexuality, the people of Jesus’ day were struggling with these same issues as well. So Jesus was providing direction and help. Therefore, the most important words of Jesus in this section of Scripture might be from verse 6: “What God has joined together.” If God’s plan for marriage is a struggle, it is good to know that God himself is there helping us and joining us. Thankfully, during his ministry Jesus gave help for God’s plan as well, in words and actions of love and forgiveness. Time and again Jesus met people who struggled in this area. Time and again Jesus reached out in love and forgiveness and worked to bring them back to God.

This weekend a group of couples are “retreating” so we can be by ourselves and so that we can receive God’s help. In fact, the theme of the weekend is “Growing in the Lord — Growing in our Marriage.” May God bless all his created people with his love and forgiveness, and may God bless families to live in the joy and health of the wise plan God has given since creation.

Jonathan Rockey is pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Palmer. Contact him at jonrock53@mtaonline.net.

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