Sermon Tone Analysis
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Last week, I was able to stand here and witness the vows of a newly married couple.
I so enjoy officiating weddings.
But, in the back of my mind, I wonder what will happen to each couple I officiate.
I have set them up for success through counseling.
I will pray for them and be active in their lives.
But every couple has a choice what they will do in their marriage.
Will they actively work to be God-honoring and one with their spouse?
Or will they settle into the cultural way of living and drift aimlessly towards divorce.
According to statistics, almost 50 percent of all marriages in the United States will end in divorce or separation.
In case you wondered, that breaks out into 41% percent of all first marriages, 60% of all second marriages, and 73% of all third marriages.
Thankfully, the divorce rate is dropping in the United States.
However, the marriage rate is also dropping.
More couples are opting to live together rather than to commit to marriage.
If you wondered, the professions with the highest divorce rates are dancers, bartenders, ad Massage Therapists.
The professions with the lowest divorce rates are clergy, optometrists, and agricultural engineers.
Over the past several weeks, we have discussed how the culture views different subjects and how the church views different subjects.
We have acknowledged that sometimes both the culture and the church is wrong.
Because the culture is against God and the church is reacting against the culture.
We are called to look at the Bible and see what truth is, despite what culture or a church tells us.
Divorce is one of those subjects, where sometimes both culture and the church is wrong.
I realize that I could be taking my life into my hands with this sermon.
I know many pastors who were fired because they preached on divorce, either for or against.
My goal is to present what Scripture actually says.
We might disagree, but hopefully we can disagree based upon Scripture, and not on culture or tradition.
Let’s read Paul’s view on the matter:
This is such a short passage, but it is amazing how many thick books have been written on it.
Before we dive in, let us pray.
Today we are going to talk about divorce and remarriage.
Divorce
We will begin with divorce.
No matter what we believe about this topic, most people like a black and white rule: either divorce is fine, or divorce is not.
Either remarriage is fine, or remarriage is not.
But, nothing in life is black and white.
We live in the grey of sin.
I am not saying that God did not give us a standard to live by.
His truth never changes.
However, sometimes our understanding of his truth is wrong.
And sometimes, because of our sin, we take his truth too far or not far enough.
That begin said, let’s define what divorce is.
Divorce is the process of terminating a marriage.
Pretty much everyone knows this definition.
Scripturally, divorce is a separation.
In Paul’s day, a husband or a wife in Roman society could say: I’m leaving.
They would pack their bags and move out.
Even though they did not get a certificate of divorce from the courts, society and the law considered them divorced.
In todays society, we have split those terms.
There are some people who are legally separated, which means they are still married, but they are living apart, having separate finances, etc.
In Paul’s day, that would have been considered a divorce, because each party was refusing to honor the marriage commitment.
Today, we also have what is called an annulment.
Annulments are done through legal and religious means to declare a marriage null and void.
It simply says that the marriage never took place.
I’m going to say something rather strong.
Scripture in no way teaches annulment.
Annulments profess that something never happened.
Which is another definition for a lie.
The law and the church should never take part in lies.
A bit of money never erases one’s past.
Okay, I’m off the soap box.
A divorce terminates a marriage.
What does Scripture say about divorce?
Divorce was not in the perfect plan of God.
Paul says:
Paul says that he is giving the command of the Lord.
He is passing on what Jesus said when Jesus was on the earth.
Divorce was not created by God.
We could boil all the Biblical passages against divorce into two reasons.
Image of God
First, divorce destroys the image of God.
When Jesus was on earth, some Pharisees questioned him about divorce.
God fused together husband and wife to be one, even as he is one.
Together, the husband and wife were to show who God is to the world around.
A divorce shatters that image.
Message of Gospel
Second, a divorce destroys the message of the Gospel.
The Gospel is a message of reconciliation.
We were enemies of God.
Now, we are reconciled with him.
We are brought close into a intimate relationship.
In the same way, we get to bring that message of reconciliation with others.
Paul speaks of the Jews and the Gentiles who were always at each other’s throats.
Christians should always be seeking reconciliation.
Divorce should not be a knee-jerk reaction to us.
In Christ, we should continually be seeking reconciliation.
When we quickly seek divorce, we are saying that the Gospel cannot reconcile.
Divorce was not in the perfect plan of God
Divorce is allowed because of sinful, hardened hearts
However, divorce was allowed because of sinful hardened hearts.
Remember what we just read from Mark?
The Pharisees told Jesus:
Jesus was referencing Deuteronomy 24 1-4
We as humans are naturally sinful.
We naturally are selfish and do not want to reconcile with someone who has hurt us.
We naturally see the grass on the other side of the fence and think that it would be so good to eat.
Because of our sin, divorce was given.
It was not given because of our righteousness.
Because of sin, Jewish tradition allowed divorce, specifically in cases of adultery, cruelty, humiliation, persistent refusal to provide food or clothing, willful conjugal neglect and emotional neglect.
It was a way of protection for the weaker partner.
It was designed as a protection of a partner from misuse by the other.
Again, because of sin.
Through the years, the boundaries on divorce became looser and looser.
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