A Goal Beyond All Expectations: A Marriage Lived for the Glory of God

The theme of this article is «Marriage Lived for the Glory of God.» The key word here is «for.» This is important, because it is about a couple living for the glory of God. The theme does not sound like «The Glory of God for Life in Marriage» or «A Couple Living for the Glory of God.» The title clearly emphasizes that marriage should be lived for the glory of God.
This little word sets the order of priorities. God is the ultimate Reality, while marriage is not. God is paramount, marriage is less important. Far less important. Infinitely less important. Marriage exists to magnify the truth, the value, the beauty, and the greatness of God. God does not exist to magnify marriage. Until this order is real and valuable—until it is seen and enjoyed—marriage will not be seen as a reflection of God’s glory, but will become a rival to it.

Why does marriage exist?

This article answers the following question: Why does marriage exist? Why is marriage necessary? Why do we live in it? It is part of the larger question: «Why does anything exist at all?» Why do we exist, why do sex exist, why does the earth exist, why does the sun, the moon, the stars exist? Why do animals, plants, oceans, mountains, atoms, and galaxies exist? The answer to all of these questions, including the question of marriage, is that everything exists. for the glory of God і for the glory of God.
This means that everything is created to magnify the truth, value, beauty, and greatness of God. But not in the way that a microscope magnifies small objects, making them appear larger than they really are. Rather, it is like a telescope that shows us huge things as they are. Microscopes distort reality, while telescopes bring us closer to the true scale of greatness. So when I say that everything exists to magnify the truth, beauty, and greatness of God, I mean that everything—and marriage in particular—exists to help people better know the Reality of God.
God is infinitely great, precious, and unsurpassed in His beauty. Psalm 145:3 says, «Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness is unsearchable.» Everything created is designed to reflect this greatness. God says through the prophet Isaiah, «Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth, even those who are called by my name, whom I have created for my glory» (Isaiah 43:6-7). We were created to reflect God’s glory.
The apostle Paul concludes the first eleven chapters of his letter to the Romans by extolling God as the source and end of all things: «For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.» (Rom. 11:36) Paul makes this even clearer in Colossians 1:16, where he says: «By him [Christ] all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth…all things were created through him and for him.».

What it means to be created for God

Woe to us if we think that «for Him» means «for His needs,» «for His benefit,» or «for His perfection.» The apostle Paul clearly explains in Acts 17:25 that God «is not served by human hands, for he needs nothing, since he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.» So the terms «for His glory» and «for Him» mean «for the manifestation of His glory,» «for the display of His greatness,» or «for the increase of His glory.».
We must realize this. There was once only God, and only God. The universe is only His creation. He is not coeternal with God and is not God Himself. «In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… All things were made by Him» (John 1:1, 3). Everything that is not God was created by God. So there was once only God. Therefore, God is the absolute Reality. We are not like that. Neither is the universe. Marriage is not. We are derivative, and the universe is of secondary importance. Humanity is not the ultimate reality, value, or standard of what is good, true, or beautiful. All this is only God. He is the only absolute in existence. Everything else is from Him, through Him, and for Him.
This is the starting point for understanding marriage. If we don’t get it right, things will go wrong. But if we get it right—in our heads and hearts—then marriage will be transformed. It will become what God created it to be—a reflection of the truth, beauty, value, and greatness of God.

Preaching about God for the sake of marriage

From this, we can draw a very simple but important conclusion: If we want marriage to take its rightful place in the world and in the Church—that is, to glorify the truth, value, beauty, and greatness of God—we must focus less on preaching about marriage and more on preaching about God.
Today, most young people do not bring to their relationships and marriages a grand vision of God—who He is, what He is like, how He works. In today’s world, the vision of God is virtually nonexistent. He is not even on the guest list—he is simply ignored. And in the Church, the view of God that young couples bring to their relationships is often so limited instead of grand, so secondary instead of central, so hazy instead of clear, so impotent instead of all-determining, so uninspiring instead of exciting, that by the time they get married, the idea of living a married life for the glory of God has lost its meaning and significance.

What do we mean by the glory of God?

What does «the glory of God» mean to a young wife or husband who spends little time or thought about knowing the glory of God or the glory of Jesus Christ, His divine Son?

• Glory to Him eternity, which amazes the mind and makes us think that God never had a beginning, but always exists.
• Glory to Him knowledge, which make the Library of Congress seem like a matchbox and quantum physics seem like a first-grade textbook.
• Glory to Him wisdom, which the human mind can never comprehend.
• Glory to Him authorities over heaven, earth, and hell, without whose permission no man or demon can move.
• Glory to Him Providence, without which not a single bird will fall and not a single hair will turn gray.
• Glory to Him words, which supports the universe and holds all atoms and molecules together.
• Glory to Him forces walk on water, cleanse lepers, heal the lame, open the eyes of the blind, make the deaf hear, calm the storms, and raise the dead.
• Glory to Him purity, which never allows for sin, bad attitude, or evil thought.
• Glory to Him reliability, who always keeps His word and does not allow any promise to remain unfulfilled.
• Glory to Him justice, which ensures that all moral bills in the universe have been paid – either on the cross or will be paid in hell.
• Glory to Him patience, which has endured our helplessness for decades.
• Glory to Him sovereign-slavish obedience, who voluntarily accepted the unbearable torment on the cross.
• Glory to Him anger, which will one day make people cry out for rocks and mountains to fall on them.
• Glory to Him grace, which justifies the wicked.
• Glory to Him love, who gave his life for us while we were still sinners.

How can people live in a way that reflects the truth, value, beauty, and grandeur of this glory if they spend little or no time and effort learning about and contemplating this glory?

The mission of my life and the Church

Perhaps you can see why, over the past twenty years of pastoral ministry, I have come to see my life’s mission and the mission of our Church in very simple terms: we exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things, for the joy of all peoples. This is our response to a need. Until there is a passion for the greatness and glory of God in the hearts of spouses, marriage will not be lived for the glory of God.
There will be no passion for the greatness and glory of God in the hearts of married people until they know God Himself in His many-faceted glory. And knowing His many-faceted glory is possible only when pastors and teachers do not stop talking about Him—untiringly, constantly, deeply, biblically, faithfully, eloquently, carefully, and passionately. Marriage lived for the glory of God will produce churches permeated with the glory of God.
So I repeat: If we want marriage to glorify the truth, value, beauty, and greatness of God, we must teach and preach less about marriage and more about God. It is not that we preach too much about marriage, but that we preach too little about God. God simply does not occupy a grand and central place in the lives of most of our people. He is not the sun around which all the planets of our daily lives revolve, finding their God-ordained place. Instead, He is more like the moon that rises and sets, and you can sleep at night without thinking about Him.
For most believers, God is secondary, and hundreds of good deeds usurp His true first place. To think that marriage can be lived for His glory, teaching relationship dynamics when the glory of God is so peripheral, is like expecting the human eye to appreciate the stars when we don’t look up at the night sky and have never bought a telescope.

How to live in marriage for the glory of God

So knowing God, honoring God, and valuing God’s glory above all else, including your spouse, is the key to living a marriage for God’s glory. This is true not only for marriage but for any other relationship: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
It is the key that unlocks a thousand doors. The highest contentment is contentment in God; it is above all earthly things, including your husband or wife, your health, and your own life (Ps. 63:4: «Because your lovingkindness is better than life»). It is this contentment in God that is the source of great long-suffering, without which husbands cannot love as Christ does, and wives cannot submit, following the example of the Church that submits to Christ.
Ephesians 5:22-25 explains that husbands are to model their leadership and love on Christ, and wives are to model their leadership and love on the church for which Christ died. And both of these complementary acts of love—leading and submitting—are unviable for the glory of God without the supreme enjoyment of all that God is for us in Christ.

Two Ways God Shines His Glory Through Marriage

Let me put it another way. There are two levels on which the glory of God can shine in a Christian marriage:
The first is at the level of roles, when both spouses fulfill their God-given roles: the husband as a Christlike leader, and the wife as a support and follower of that leadership. When these roles are fulfilled, the glory of God’s love and wisdom in Christ is revealed to the world.
But there is another, deeper level where God’s glory must shine if we are to fulfill these roles as God intended. The strength and impetus for the daily self-denial and constant dying to self required to love an imperfect wife or husband must come from the supreme satisfaction in God, which gives us a soul-sustaining hope. I do not believe that our love for our wives, or their love for us, will glorify God unless it comes from a heart that delights in God more than in marriage.
Marriage will be preserved for the glory of God and formed for the glory of God when the glory of God is more precious to us than marriage. When we can say with the apostle Paul (Philippians 3:8), «I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord» – and when we can say the same about marriage – about our husband or wife – then that marriage will be lived for the glory of God.
In closing, I will try to express this in another way, namely with a poem I wrote for my son on his wedding day:

To love her more and to love its Less

For Carsten Luke Piper
At his wedding with
Rochelle Ann Orvis
May 29, 1995

The God we loved,
Who did they live with, who did they go with,
Our Rock is twenty years old,
He asks us to fly through tears:
“"Let the son leave his father,
He sticks to his wife,
They will become flesh at once,
Free from earthly adornments.”.
 
This is the word of the Lord today,
We obey that will.
God gave you a bride,
He fulfilled his secret dream,
That we have cherished for twenty years,
They didn't even know her name.
 
You ask me for a poem —
There is a risk, you probably know:
I am a preacher, not a poet,
No artist. But your zeal
Inspiring, so willing
I agree. So,
I have no complaints about these frames.
Rhyme and rhythm, their signs.
 
Old friends, happy to be back
Help put it into words
Feelings in the form of a beautiful,
I will be able to keep warm.
We met in these recent days,
To channel glorious feelings.
 
Here is a part of that stream,
My son: the sermon is easy.
Her theme is the rule of love,
What is surprising; in paradox:
To honor your wife,
Love to know more and less.
 
If in the coming days, by chance,
May God grant you wealth and good things,
And you walk carefree
Together, don't forget that:
Love her more than wealth,
No matter what the prosperity may be.
 
If life weaves a web for you
A hundred friendships, and you are in a fight
You create a holiday from feelings,
From great and small labors,
So know, no matter how hard it all goes:
Love her more than your friends.
 
When such a moment comes,
That fatigue whispers: “Rest,
Do yourself a favor,
Accept comfort without reservation,”,
So know! A wife is above this:
Love her more than is convenient.
 
When the marriage bed is clean,
And there are no temptations,
Besides your wife, my friend,
And all life is a powerful ecstasy,
So know the secret that protects everything:
Love her more than pleasure, maybe.
 
If your taste becomes refined,
And the human mind will be amazed
Through your creations, know:
“The ”why” of everything is in the heart.
So love her more than art,
No matter how wonderful it is.
 
If your craft becomes
Because everyone praises the critics,
And success will surpass dreams,
Don't forget the most important thing, you:
Beware of the glory of dangers,
Love her more than success.
 
And if suddenly, to your surprise,
God will call you to some feat,
To risk one's life for a cause,
Let fear and love not stand in the way.
When you stand before the gates of death,
Love her more than your own breath.
 
Yes, love her more than life itself;
Love the woman called wife.
Love her as the best thing on earth.
But don't go any further than that. Let
Love will not become a stupid facade,
Love her less than God, you know.
 
It is unwise and inappropriate to call
An idol with sweet words,
And fall, as if in humility,
Before the likeness of your God. Honor
The most beloved on earth
Only God gives it value.
 
She will understand on the spot,
That your love is the grace of God,
And what are your high feelings?
Flowing from the holy vow,
First given to you by God. They will not disappear,
Because they are rooted in Heavenly Joy.
 
You value life more than breath,
To give to my wife every day.
The greatest gift you can give your wife is
Love for God is beyond its days.
And so I ask you to bless me:
Love her more by loving her less.