Only Jesus: Husband + Wife | Colossians 3:17-19
How many of you are single and want to get married? How many of you are married…. and HAPPY? Chris Rock said, “You’re either married and bored or single and lonely. Ain’t no happiness nowhere.” The main tension in every marriage is the tension between what is ideal and what is real. What is real is what you are right now, and the ideal is what you want it to be. We live our lives in this tension of what we are (real) and what we want to be (ideal). In a fallen world, the ideal is not God’s vision for marriage. God’s vision for your marriage is greater than our culture’s vision. God’s vision for marriage is that it is a lifelong covenant. Not a contract based on IF and THEN. Not just an emotional attachment based on passion and lust but a whole life commitment. Not personal fulfillment but fulfilling the other. Not about consumption but contentment and care. Not about my rights but my responsibilities. Not ultimately just about my happiness but my holiness. There are few things less miserable than a bad marriage. But what if the secret to a happy marriage is not focusing on being happy but focusing on Jesus. What if you were most freed, most joyful, most happy, not by looking at yourself but looking to Christ?
Paul is writing from prison to a group of new believers about the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus and how to live their lives considering who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. Paul has taught us that because of who we are in Christ our relationships to other people should be different than the world: we should bear with one another, forgive one another, and love one another. Paul is going to address the fundamental relationships in our lives: starting with marriage. The key to a successful marriage is to put Christ at the center where the wife lovingly submits, and the husband sacrificially loves.