Trinity Bible ChapelTrinity Bible ChapelTrinity Bible ChapelTrinity Bible Chapel
  • Jesus
  • About
    • Service Times & Location
    • Our Mission
    • Our Four Pillars
    • Our History
    • What We Believe
      • Our Doctrinal Statement
      • Specific Issues
        • Baptism and Communion
        • Church Government
        • Church Membership
        • Church Planting Philosophy
        • Church Structure
        • Counseling Philosophy
        • Creation, Evolution and God’s Sovereignty
        • Eternal Security of the Believer
        • Sufficiency of Scripture
        • Spiritual Warfare
        • The Trinity
        • Women in Ministry
        • Worship
    • Church Staff
    • Job Opportunities
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Project Rehoboth
      • Rehoboth Updates
    • King Alfred Academy
  • Connect
    • New Here?
      • Welcome to Trinity!
      • What Should I Expect?
      • How Can I Be Saved?
      • Get Baptized
      • University Bus Shuttle
    • Get Connected
      • Step 1: Connect
      • Step 2: Consider
      • Step 3: Commit to a Small Group
      • Step 3: Commit to Serve
      • Step 4: Covenant in Membership
    • Resources
      • Weekly E-News
      • Events Calendar
      • Church App
      • Subscribe to Our Podcast
      • Pulpit Curriculum
      • Bible Reading Plans
      • Weddings
      • The Church At War Conference
      • Antichrist and His Ruin Documentary
  • Ministries
    • Trinity Kids
      • Parenting Resources
      • Web Protection Guide
      • Parenting Conference Audio
    • Trinity Youth
      • Youth Ministry Blog Posts
    • Small Groups
      • Pulpit Curriculum
      • Small Groups Blog Posts
      • Accountability Resources
    • University Bus Ministry
      • Adopt-A-Student Ministry
    • Worship Ministry
      • Family Worship
      • Weekend Song List
    • Sunday Support
    • Evangelism
      • Evangelism Videos
    • King Alfred Academy
    • Homeschool Collective
      • New to Homeschooling
      • Resources
      • Planning Pages
  • Sermons
    • Latest Sermon
    • View All by Date
    • View by Series
    • View by Preachers
    • View by Topics
    • View by Scriptures
    • Subscribe to Our Podcast
  • Blogs
    • The Pastor’s Blog
    • Trinity Ministry Blog
  • Give

The Pastor's Blog

By Jacob Reaume

On Recovering Marriage

By Jacob Reaume | August 30, 2017 | Leave a Comment |
Tagged: gospel, marriage, the record

On Monday, the Waterloo Region Record ran an insightful opinion piece, “Stable Marriages Good for Everyone,” by Andrew Mrozek and Peter Jon Mitchell.  The article laments the breakdown of the family and calls for a “recovery of the institution” of marriage.

It opens with 2016 Canada census data and notes that family diversity is on the rise in Canada.  Then with refreshing and surprising candor, they observe that “family diversity is so often a euphemism for family breakdown.”  Even further, they note that “the nation’s 40-plus-year decline in marriage rates continues, signifying a cultural shift that hurts our children, culture, and economy.  Worse, it’s not what Canadians want.”

Explaining the benefits of intact marriages for children, they write, “Growing up in an intact married home increases the likelihood of children getting good grades and graduating from high school and college… Having married parents is also correlated with a lower likelihood of children participating in risky behaviours, like drug abuse or early sexual initiation.”

For married adults, tangible benefits also exist: “The happily married are also more likely to recover from illness, including cancer, and lead healthier lives.”

As for the price tag, “public cost of family breakdown in Canada is about $7 billion annually.  That’s the equivalent of hosting the Vancouver Winter Olympics every year.”

Perhaps the above, at least in part, explains why “last year a Nanos Research poll found that 78 per cent of Canadians view marriage as a positive aspect of family life.”

Speaking of stable and happy marriages, the authors lament, “We just don’t seem to know how to get there.”  Statistics might point to socio-economic and health benefits of marriages, and the majority of Canadians might even agree that marriage is good.  But like a pirate’s buried treasure, if Canadians don’t have the map then all the benefits remain hidden under the sand at an undisclosed location.  The authors state that “there’s a need for recovery of the institution,” but, outside of changing tax policy, they offer no direction.  And I emphasize dogmatically that there’s no salvation in tax policy: Taxation or lack thereof will never save!

Returning to the institution of marriage is impossible without returning to the foundation of marriage.  Without that foundation, attempts at marriage are like a bouquet of wedding flowers.  They look pretty at the wedding, but they amount to compost and worm food within a few days.  The Bible explains that the foundation of marriage is found in the Author and Definer of marriage.  God opens the Bible with a marriage, between Adam and Eve.  God closes the Bible with a marriage, between Christ and His church.  God gets marriage.  Unlike the wilting wedding bouquet, Christ is the Gardener of a thriving perennial garden of flowers watered by Christ’s blood, fed by Christ’s flesh, and weeded by Christ’s Word.  The mystery of marriage lies hidden, but it is within reach.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the foundation for marriage.  Christ, the bridegroom, left heaven to rescue the church, His bride.  He died and bled on the cross as a substitute for His church’s sins.  He washes her, forgives her, cares for her, and enters into an eternal covenantal relational union with her.  He calls her to be exclusively faithful to Him.  And He guarantees His loving provision for her.  Marriage, to be recovered, requires a recovery of biblical masculinity.  It requires a man to love his wife like Christ does the church.  Marriage, to be recovered, requires a recovery of biblical femininity.  It requires a wife to submit to her husband like the church does to Christ.  Marriage, to be recovered, requires a recovery of the Gospel.  It requires repentance and faith towards God.

We cannot recover marriage unless we recover from our rebellion.  Canadians will never recover marriage without recovering from the sexual revolution, the poisonous seeds of which have taken deep root across our nation.  Only the power of God can uproot them and replace them with the life-giving seeds of the Gospel.  If you want marriage recovery, you must turn to the One who defines marriage in the Bible.  You cannot recover without a Saviour.

Our national problem is not a tax problem or a policy problem.  It’s not even a marriage or family problem.  Our national problem is a rebellion problem, a sin problem.  We have raised our fists in defiance of our Creator, and the only way to recover is through the blood of the cross.  The Bridegroom stands waiting and pleading: “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

Marriage won’t be the only thing we lose if we stay on this destructive path.  The cost of sin is judgment at the hands of our Creator Who is Himself an all-consuming fire.  But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus the Lord.

Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods who led you into this mess, or the gods that are taking you further into destruction.  But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.


SHARE


Comments

Related Posts

  • The Rainbow Flag, Local Council, and Elmira’s Streets

    By Jacob Reaume | August 23, 2022

    Elmira is Ontario’s latest community to look at painting a trendy rainbow on one of it’s streets.  Apparently, the Canadian Association of Mental Health has requested that the municipality paint one on a local crosswalk as a show of support for the LGBTQS2+ community.  Those letters — LGBTQS2+ — are likely the latest alpha-numeric codeRead more

  • A Gay Bar with Free Math Lessons

    By Jacob Reaume | June 15, 2022

    I have been advising parents to pull their children from public schools for several years.  The primary objective of education should be to foster Christian virtue in the hearts of children.  Apparently this view was once shared by the majority of Ontarians to the point that they had it enshrined in law.  Section 264.1.c ofRead more

  • Protect Your Children from Public School

    By Jacob Reaume | June 9, 2022

    A few months ago, I reported (here) of a Waterloo Region public school teacher who the WRDSB chair censored at a board meeting.  Her offence?  She questioned whether school officials should be teaching children that hormone blockers are a good idea.  She did so while quoting a public school library book that presented hormone blockersRead more

  • Wisdom in Evangelizing Your Children

    By Jacob Reaume | May 17, 2022

    The following is adapted from a short sermon I gave at a child-dedication service on Mother’s Day. Introduction Many think that there is a recipe to get your children into the Kingdom of God.  “Maybe if I just protect them enough from the world they will be good,” some may reason. The problem is thatRead more

  • John Bunyan Opposed Church Attendance Limits

    By Jacob Reaume | May 12, 2022

    Just over a year ago, the Province of Ontario seized our church building and charged me, along with all our elders, with contempt of court for the second time.  The Province, claiming to be acting in the public good, had set limits on church attendance, and we had no regard for them.  We, ourselves claimingRead more

Newer PostOlder Post

Top 5 Trending

  • What does “makes her commit adultery” mean? (Matt. 5:32)

    October 25, 2018
  • The Rainbow Flag, Local Council, and Elmira’s Streets

    August 23, 2022
  • Yes, Bruxy Cavey Is A False Teacher

    July 11, 2018
  • King Alfred and Why He’s Called “Great”

    June 21, 2018
  • The Bloodlines of Jesus

    October 13, 2014

Latest Posts

  • The Rainbow Flag, Local Council, and Elmira’s Streets

    August 23, 2022
  • A Gay Bar with Free Math Lessons

    June 15, 2022
  • Protect Your Children from Public School

    June 9, 2022
  • Wisdom in Evangelizing Your Children

    May 17, 2022
  • John Bunyan Opposed Church Attendance Limits

    May 12, 2022

About the Author

Jacob Reaume

Born and raised in Guelph, Jacob holds a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He became pastor of Trinity Bible Chapel in August, 2009. Jacob is married to his high school sweetheart, Joanna, and together they have six children.

CHURCH LOCATION
Address:    1373 Lobsinger Line
Waterloo, ON, N2J 4G8

Phone: 519-658-6333
Email: info@trinitybiblechapel.ca

NEW HERE?

  • Service Times & Location
  • Welcome to Trinity!
  • What Should I Expect?
  • How Can I Be Saved?
  • University Bus Shuttle
  • Our Mission
  • Our Doctrinal Statement

OUR MINISTRIES

  • Trinity Kids
  • Trinity Youth
  • Small Groups
  • University Bus Ministry
  • Worship Ministry
  • Sunday Support
  • Evangelism

GET CONNECTED

  • Step 1: Connect
  • Step 2: Consider
  • Step 3: Commit to a Small Group
  • Step 3: Commit to Serve
  • Step 4: Covenant in Membership
  • Get Baptized
  • Events Calendar
Trinity Bible Chapel on Rumble
Copyright © 2022 Trinity Bible Chapel
  • Jesus
  • About
    • Service Times & Location
    • Our Mission
    • Our Four Pillars
    • Our History
    • What We Believe
      • Our Doctrinal Statement
      • Specific Issues
        • Baptism and Communion
        • Church Government
        • Church Membership
        • Church Planting Philosophy
        • Church Structure
        • Counseling Philosophy
        • Creation, Evolution and God’s Sovereignty
        • Eternal Security of the Believer
        • Sufficiency of Scripture
        • Spiritual Warfare
        • The Trinity
        • Women in Ministry
        • Worship
    • Church Staff
    • Job Opportunities
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Project Rehoboth
      • Rehoboth Updates
    • King Alfred Academy
  • Connect
    • New Here?
      • Welcome to Trinity!
      • What Should I Expect?
      • How Can I Be Saved?
      • Get Baptized
      • University Bus Shuttle
    • Get Connected
      • Step 1: Connect
      • Step 2: Consider
      • Step 3: Commit to a Small Group
      • Step 3: Commit to Serve
      • Step 4: Covenant in Membership
    • Resources
      • Weekly E-News
      • Events Calendar
      • Church App
      • Subscribe to Our Podcast
      • Pulpit Curriculum
      • Bible Reading Plans
      • Weddings
      • The Church At War Conference
      • Antichrist and His Ruin Documentary
  • Ministries
    • Trinity Kids
      • Parenting Resources
      • Web Protection Guide
      • Parenting Conference Audio
    • Trinity Youth
      • Youth Ministry Blog Posts
    • Small Groups
      • Pulpit Curriculum
      • Small Groups Blog Posts
      • Accountability Resources
    • University Bus Ministry
      • Adopt-A-Student Ministry
    • Worship Ministry
      • Family Worship
      • Weekend Song List
    • Sunday Support
    • Evangelism
      • Evangelism Videos
    • King Alfred Academy
    • Homeschool Collective
      • New to Homeschooling
      • Resources
      • Planning Pages
  • Sermons
    • Latest Sermon
    • View All by Date
    • View by Series
    • View by Preachers
    • View by Topics
    • View by Scriptures
    • Subscribe to Our Podcast
  • Blogs
    • The Pastor’s Blog
    • Trinity Ministry Blog
  • Give
Trinity Bible Chapel