Marriage as a call to ministry

Continuing the current worship series on a Sunday titled "What's the gospel word on marriage", Pastor Phil Kniss used Hosea 2:18-20 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a, 13 as his texts for the morning. At the beginning of the sermon, Pastor Phil acknowledged that preaching about marriage is a risky task. Over half of those listening to the sermon might not be married for a variety of reasons, or may be married but wish they were not. In our society, we all, liberal or conservative, tend to get marriage wrong. The Bible does not suggest that marriage is better or worse than singleness. Marriage is a calling, but not everyone is so called. Before being husband and wife, a Christian couple are brother and sister in Christ. Pastor Phil suggested that marriage be viewed as a covenant relationship, especially in the context of the Christian church, which is a covenant community. With public vows, a couple commits to putting their covenant relationship ahead of convenience. The fact that our culture fills us with the opposite message presents us with a huge challenge.