Two Became One

Introduction

This morning I’m thinking about hobbies. Do you have any hobbies? What are those hobbies? And do you have hobbies in your past that you don’t do anymore? Maybe you just outgrew them, like diet and exercise. Are there things maybe you did as a kid that you just don’t do anymore for whatever reason? I’ll tell you about one of the first hobbies that I had as a kid. I was the baby of the family. I had two older brothers, and so much of what I did and liked was just copied from my brothers. That’s the way it works sometimes. And I learned from my brother to put together model cars. Did you ever do that as a kid? Maybe mostly the guys, maybe some girls did that as well.

But you would go to the store and you’d buy that kit. Ravel was the brand name that I remember, and I can still remember the delight of opening up that box and seeing that picture of that usually old classic car that was there, and in this box was just a myriad of like one million pieces, and you had to pop them off of that frame, and I can still see all of those pieces put together and remember kind of assembling them, trying to kind of make them look like that car. I can remember the paint. You had special kind of paint that would come. It was in a little glass jars with a with a metal lid, and you’d open that paint up, and it would almost always the paint would dry in that lid, and you couldn’t get the lid off the second time, and so you had to go borrow your dad’s pliers and apply just the right amount of pressure, not too much pressure, because lessons had taught you and the blue stain and blood stain on your bedroom floor.

It taught you that if you push too hard, you’ll break the jar. And I can still remember that pain, and I can still remember the glue that we used to put together. There was a special kind of glue that you had to buy. Testers was the brand that we always bought of glue that we use to assemble those pieces. It was an industrial glue, and it had high fumes to it. If you read the label on it, it would warn you to only use this glue in a well-ventilated place while wearing a mask. We would hold up in our eight by nine bedrooms with the windows and doors closed, and it didn’t have any effect on us. I can remember the glue. It would tell you on the warning label that you were supposed to use it in a well-ventilated area with a mask.

But oh, did I tell you that part already? Today you would have to be 21 years of age and show your ID to be able to buy that glue. In the 70s, all you needed was two dollars and a ride to the store. And you could go to that store and buy that glue. And I remember of one thing about that glue, and my brother, who did these models before me and taught me how to put these models together, I can still remember him warning me about the glue and having to use it because this glue was a special kind of glue. It was some kind of magic science glue. It didn’t just glue the pieces together, but my brother explained it to me, he was a lot smarter than me, that it it did some kind of chemical reaction with the plastic, and it actually would break down the molecules and the atoms and the electrons and protons of that plastic through some process, I think, known as photosynthesis, and it would melt, it would actually melt that plastic.

And the plastic would actually not just be glued together, but it would be actually just meld, melt together. And my brother would warn me, he says, be careful. When you do that, you’ve got to make sure the alignment and everything is just right, because once that glue sets, it’s set. You’re not going to be able to take that apart and fix it.

And you’ve really ruined the whole model if you didn’t apply that glue properly and use it properly. That process of gluing those pieces together in that model car the language that our Lord used when he talked about marriage. Would you turn with me in Mark chapter 10? I don’t want to talk about hobbies really this morning or about model cars, although I might go to Hobby Lobby. I have to wait till tomorrow and buy one. But I want to talk about the idea of being joined together. In this text in Mark chapter 10 and its sister passage in Matthew chapter 19, Jesus is asked about the subject of marriage, particularly about marriage and divorce. And in answering that question, he gives us some very fundamental principles, not just about divorce, but more importantly about marriage that we need to apply.

Will you read with me beginning in Mark chapter 10, Mark’s gospel, the tenth chapter, beginning in verse 2, the Pharisees came and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? Testing him. And he answered and said to them, Why did Moses command you? Or what did Moses command you? And they said, Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to dismiss her. Jesus answered and said to them, Because of the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife. Let’s pause there. We’ll continue the reading in a moment. That man should leave his father and mother and be joined.

If you’re using an older translation, it may say and cleave. But that word joined or cleave there is literally what happened in that chemical process when those two pieces of plastic came in contact with that glue, and then one another, they were joined together, welded, so put together that it was really impossible to separate them without some destruction taking place. What a graphic beautiful word that Jesus used for marriage, that we have to be joined to one another, and the two shall become one flesh, he says in verse 8, so that they’re no longer two but one flesh. Jesus concludes from that creation statement. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate. We’ll stop there in our reading. Jesus here teaches us about the union of marriage and about the permanency of marriage when he talks about when two are joined together, let not man separate.

Now, what’s telling in this discussion is not just what Jesus teaches us about marriage, but where he went to to teach us about marriage.

But he points out that that was not God’s original design for marriage. God’s original design for marriage, he says, comes from Genesis chapter 2. And so let’s do that this morning. Let’s go where Jesus went to Genesis chapter 2. As good Bible students, as good Old Testament students, you know, chapter 1 of Genesis is the story of creation, and it’s told in that kind of repetitive style. On day one, this happened, day two, day three, day four, and following. Genesis chapter 2 is kind of a magnification, if you will, of just one of those six days of creation, the last day, the most important, the crowning day, in which God made something out of everything else that he had created. He made something in his own image that made it special and unique.

And so I believe that the Holy Spirit felt that that needed some more discussion. And so chapter two of Genesis is not after day seven. It’s going back and saying, let’s talk more about one of those days, the day in which man and woman was created. And that is the text that Jesus appeals to when he’s asked about the subject of marriage and divorce and remarriage. And so let’s read the text that Jesus appeals to. Genesis chapter 2, beginning in verse 18. And the Lord God said, It’s not good that man should be alone. I’ll make a helper comparable to him. 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 whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. So Adam gave names to all the 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 on Adam, and 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 man, he made into a woman. And he brought her to 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, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

When asked about marriage, Jesus says, this was God’s design from the beginning. Remember Jesus’ conclusion from this text in Mark chapter 10 and in Matthew chapter 19 that two will become one. But he takes us back to a story where actually one became two to illustrate that in marriage two will become one. I want us to spend just a little bit of time in talking about this event, in which God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, and how he remedied that want in his creation. I know you’ve made this observation before. This is the first and only thing that God said was not good in his creation. Go back to chapter one. Everything God observed every day, and it was good.

1. The Order of Creation

But it was not good because God was not finished. It was not good that man should be alone. God makes that observation in Genesis chapter 2 and in verse 18. But notice some things about the creation of woman and the creation of the marriage institution that I think has very profound applications to our marriage today. The first thing that I think we notice in this story is the order of creation. Notice that in verse 18, God said it’s not good for man to be alone, and then you skip down to verse 21. Verse 18, God says, man’s alone, that’s not good, but it’s not till verse 21 until he remedies that want in his creation. Something happens in verses 19 and 20 before God created woman that I think is significant.

God says it’s not good for man to be alone. But before I fix it, Adam, I want you to do something.

Why couldn’t that have waited till later? Why was it so important to do that before he created woman? I think the text will tell us that that was done, number one, intentionally by God to show Adam what God had already observed. That Adam was alone. And that wasn’t good. I think it’s possible that two thoughts may have occurred to Adam as he was viewing and naming all of these animals. Don’t you think Adam noticed that there were two of every animal? That as those animals were providentially or miraculously paraded before Adam, and he named each one, that surely he noticed that in the animal world there was a male and a female. And Adam sat alone. I think a second thought may have occurred to Adam as he was viewing and naming all of these animals.

Surely he observed the brilliance and the beauty of God’s creation in creating these animals. And maybe he even began to speculate about the usefulness of some of these animals. Maybe as he was naming the horse, he was thinking, I could see maybe just writing that through the garden.

And maybe as he named the dog, he said, I could have that as a pet. Could go fetch the paper in the morning or do those kind of things.

But surely he also observed that as wonderful as all of these animals are, none of them are compatible. Or as the new King James says, comparable to me. Oh, they’re beautiful. And maybe even useful. And maybe, maybe I could think of ways in which they could meet some needs that I’ll have. But they don’t meet the need that I have. What I’m saying is this timing was intentional by God. Look at the text again. Chapter 2, verse 18. The Lord God said, It’s not good that man should be alone. I’ll make a helper comparable to him. Then he parades the animals. Adam names the animals. But notice what it says at the very end of verse 20. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

Do you see how that God is saying, Adam, do you see what I see? You’re alone. And there’s nobody or nothing to answer your needs until now. And so I think one of the lessons that we can apply to our marriages in the order of creation in Genesis chapter 2 is that marriage was intended to meet the needs of each partner. There was no thing and no one to meet Adam’s needs until God fixed it with marriage. Look with me. Hold your finger there in Genesis chapter 2. We’ll come back. But go to 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Isn’t that part of Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians chapter 7? When he talks about what we might call discreetly the physical needs of human beings. And so he says in verse 2 of 1 Corinthians 7, nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

Do you see that he’s seeing in marriage needs can be met? Let the husband, verse 3, render to his wife the affection due to her, and likewise also the wife to the husband. The wife does not have the authority over her own body, but the husband does, and likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. You see that in marriage needs can be met, physical needs, but other needs as well. And in marriage, God intends for us to supplement and complement one another to meet those needs. Think about this. Look in Philippians chapter 2, a text that we’re very familiar with. And as we’re turning to Philippians chapter 2, I want us to understand that every Christian principle that applies to how we are to treat other people applies in marriage.

Look in Philippians chapter 2. Paul isn’t talking specifically about marriage, but can we not see that in this model that this certainly applies? Philippians 2, verses 3 and 4, let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit. But in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look not out only for his own interest, but for the interest of others. Do you see that that’s God’s plan for marriage? That needs could be met, that our own self doesn’t belong to ourself. It belongs to another now. And my goal has now become to meet the needs of one another. And understand this. To meet those needs, we need to see those needs. And we have to meet their needs.

One author has put it this way. He likened it to the idea of currency. You know how confusing it would be if we all had our own currency? You may have experienced that if you go overseas somewhere, but if we all had different currency, that’d be kind of confusing and make it a little difficult and challenging. Well, guess what? We do. When it comes to needs, we have different currency. And a husband may think he sees the needs of his wife and wants to fix that need with his currency, but he doesn’t recognize that maybe that’s the wife doesn’t need that. She needs to be paid or needs to be supported and helped in her own way. And so it takes some wisdom and it takes some humility to be able to try to see the needs of the other and recognize that in marriage, that is my chief responsibility is to meet those needs.

2. The Method of Creation

And that is illustrated through the order of creation. Turn back to Genesis chapter 2. God has seen that it was not good for man to be alone. This is the text that Jesus took us to. When he talked about the permanence of marriage and talked about two becoming one, we saw significance in the order of creation. Man was shown that he was alone and shown that there was nothing there to meet. There was nothing there that it was his intellectual or social or even sexual equal until man created woman. But I think we ought only see significance in the order of creation, but in the method of creation. Unique is the creation of woman. Have you ever wondered why this surgical procedure had to take place?

Man had to be put to sleep, and part of his rib or his side, depending on what translation you read from, is taken from. Why did God do that? Why didn’t he create woman the same way he created man? Why not get another pile of dust and maybe put a little glitter in it this time? And from that, create woman. He could have done that. He created man from dust. Why couldn’t he create woman from dust? Why couldn’t he create woman the way he’d created so much of his creation? He could have just spoken her into existence. Let there be woman. God could have. Why this surgical procedure? The text tells us, and Jesus tells us in Mark chapter 10. It was to make a point.

You ever heard a preacher say this? She was taken from his side. She wasn’t taken from his foot so that he could trample over her, neither was she taken from a part of his head so that she could rule over him, but she was taken from his side so they could walk side by side through life. Well, that’s sweet, but I don’t think that makes the point at all. Preachers get cute sometimes, don’t we? And we kind of make stuff up, and you have to be careful. You may have also heard this in a wedding ceremony why the ring is round. It’s round because it illustrates demonstrates the never ending love that we’re to have in marriage. That’s not why. You know why the ring is round?

Because it fits on our fingers that way. If our fingers were square, the ring would be square, and we’d have to come up with some four-sighted illustration. But there is meaning. That’s not the meaning to why woman’s taken from the side. There is meaning, though, and the text helps us to see that. Go back. Are you there in Genesis chapter 2? After God causes the deep sleep to fall on Adam, he takes a portion of him and from that makes a woman. He brings the woman to Adam, and Adam says, verse 23, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. Adam got the point right away. He says, She is part of me.

And Jesus helps us to understand in the New Testament that God, in this act of taking one to make two, illustrates that in marriage God takes two to make one. Adam says, She is a part of me. If Adam had ever contemplated divorcing Eve, sending her away, he would have been sending away a part of himself. Literally. And that’s the picture of marriage. As God intended. And I think we learn from the method of creation that husband and wife should feel, should act, and should love as one. And our marriages grow and improve as we grow and improve in that togetherness. Look with me again in the New Testament. Keep your finger or your bookmark in Genesis. We’re coming back. But look with me in the book of Ephesians, Paul’s discussion of marriage there.

In Ephesians chapter 5, famously, Paul likens marriage to the relationship of Christ in the church. But notice what he says here about that. Ephesians 5, verse 28, he says, so husbands, so husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. I used to read that statement in verse 28 that I’m to love my wife as my own body. And here’s the way I interpreted that.

Well, I love my own body. I’ll take care of my own body. I won’t do damage to my own body. And so it’s kind of the golden rule principle applied to marriage. I’ll do the same thing for my wife. I’ll treat her the way I want to be treated. And by the way, that’s good marriage advice. But I think it goes so much deeper than that. And maybe we’ve missed it. Because he concludes that discussion in telling husbands to love their wives as their own bodies by doing what Jesus did and taking us back to this passage in Genesis 2 when Paul says in verse 31, for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

I don’t think Paul is just saying, apply the principles you apply to yourself to your wife. I think he’s saying, you are one body.

And Adam understood she’s a part of me. And that’s applied in the New Testament to marriage, in saying that if marriage is as God has planned it and designed it, we’re going to be one. And me harming my spouse is harming myself because she’s a part of me. And so we’re going to dream as one. We’re going to act as one. We’re going to spend as one. We’re going to love as one flesh. Because that’s what we are. And let’s not just go to Matthew 19 or the sister passage in Mark’s gospel and talk about divorce. Let’s go there and talk about marriage. And how’s Jesus teaching about the not just the permanence of marriage, but the plan of marriage can be applied. Lastly, let’s go back to Genesis chapter 2.

3. The Result of the Creation

We’ve seen, I think, intentionally, a lesson on the order of creation. We’ve seen significant significance to, I believe, the method of creation. But I think we also see some significance in the result of the creation. God saw that it was not good for man to be alone. What did God create? Who did God create to remedy that lack in his creation? God teaches us by words, we know that, but God also can teach us by his actions. If in this creation scene God had created a dozen women, that act alone would have sanctioned polygamy, wouldn’t it? Man has a need, that need can be supplied by multiple women. That would have sanctioned that, wouldn’t it? You know where I’m going. If God is saying that man was not good for him to be alone, I’ll make something answerable to his needs if God had created another man.

That action alone, we wouldn’t need any other teaching. That action alone would have sanctioned homosexuality, wouldn’t it? That was God saying, this is the way I want it. So when God saw that man was alone, and he remedied that by creating one woman, that tells us God’s plan. One man for one woman for life. And so that teaches us that marriage is to be between a man and a woman. And it also teaches us this claims to the contrary, notwithstanding, that men and women are different. And God intended it that way. Now let’s just be honest. Sometimes those differences between males and females comes across like this, even in marriage, doesn’t it? We don’t always see eye to eye. She doesn’t always do things the way I would do them.

And I don’t always do things the way she would do them. And so it comes across like this sometimes. And let’s just be honest, that’s the way it is, isn’t it? But let’s be further honest that it can, if we’ll allow it, it can come across the way God intended for us to meet each other’s needs by having a different viewpoint, a different way of looking and doing things. That’s the way God something was lacking in Adam. And so God from one made two to illustrate to us in marriage that in two becoming one, our needs can be met. If we’ll do it God’s way, if we’ll love and act and be as one, if we’ll appreciate rather than antagonize over the differences that we have, and allow those differences to work.

Conclusion

And to just be corny. If we do that, we can find a little sliver of paradise where marriage was created. And we can see a part of God’s plan of uniting us together with Him in the marriage ceremony of baptism. I pray that God will help us as we apply these principles that our Lord tried to teach us about the subject of marriage and all the lessons that we can learn through the creation process. But I pray that if you’re not united with Christ this morning, that you’ll become a part of his body, that you’ll become one with him. That will wash away your sins, as we talked about in our Lord’s Supper observance this morning. It’ll put you in contact with him and with other Christians, and it’ll make your life, including your marriage, better if you’ll live and work and love by his principles.

Can we help you as you seek to draw closer to God this morning, as you render obedience to that gospel? Can we help you in any way? Let it be known as the gift.