Sermon Tone Analysis

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 2

Scripture Reading:

Sermon

Good Morning Church!

I was Glad when they said to me let us go and worship in the house of the Lord!

Well as we continue our way through the book of Matthew, we find ourselves in, probably unsurprising, ay least it should probably be unsurprising to us at this point, but we find ourselves in another of the more controversial we could say, teaching of Jesus.

It is certainly one of the more loaded and possibly difficult teachings of jesus, but this is in many ways the beauty of just going through books, for we are not really allowed to skip over the difficult parts and skip over the things we would rather not talk about and rather not deal with.

instead we are forced to dive into what can be difficult, or painful, or even divisive teachings of Jesus.

today we will be looking at what is the most extensive teaching of Jesus on the subjects of marriage and divorce and even singleness.

Here then Jesus is speaking into what are the most intimate and the deepest relationships that we may have on this earth.

here in this passage Jesus will talk about them, teach on them and give us life.

however, with that being said, while Jesus is certainly teaching us about these things, there is also something a little deeper going on here that I hope and pray that we can see.

So with that in mind lets read our passage for today.

Our passage is Matthew 19, verses 1-12.

So we have made it all the way to Matthew 19, no small accomplishment by itself, but with that lets dive in

These are the words of the Lord for us this morning, Lets open with a word of Prayer

Dear Lord we thank you for today, for your love and mercy.

Thank you for your words given to us that we might know you, that we might be known by you, that we might serve you and love you.

thank you for giving us all we need for life and godliness, and for empowering us to live for you.

may you speak to us, give us ears to hear, help us to receive your words for us this morning., it is in jesus name that we pray.

AMEN

As we approach this passage, before we even dive in, I would like to sort of share a principle of bible reading that I have come to treasure.

if I were to put it simply it would be this: if you are reading scripture and do not have the same questions as the characters you are reading about, you are probably reading it wrong.

i came to this conclusion in reading through the book of Romans.

In Romans, Paul is very carefully laying out a very difficult theological argument.

It is difficult because it is deep and powerful, and it is difficult because it may leave us with a lot of Questions.

And so over and over again in the book of Romans Paul asks rhetorical questions.

So what then?

Should we just keep on sinning so that grace may abound?

(Romans 6:2).

The reason Paul asks that question is because he sees that from what he has previously said it is possible that someone could get that wrong idea.

So Up to then he as been talking about how we are free in Christ, and grace covers all our sins.

and how grace in bigger and greater than our sins, and in some sense his grace is magnified in the depth f his forgiveness as it covers all our sins.

So it is possible that someone could say “well great, I can magnify his grace in my sinning!

No, that is ridiculous, Paul says, but we don’t get the grace of God Paul is writing about if we cant see why someone MIGHT think that.

And in Romans this occurs all the time.

So here is the principle, If Paul anticipates a question, you should try and figure out WHY someone might ask that question.

But biblically it is greater, if you see a question, you should ascertain WHY that is there.

But now, looking to Matthew, we don’t even need to “anticipate” what the questions are for in fact the questions are asked for us.

And so as we walk through this passage, I want us to see that this teaching is framed by and really guided by THREE DIFFERENT QUESTIONS

Three Questions Frame the debate

These questions are asked by two different groups, and we see their hearts and intentions come into play.

but more than that when we see the heart of the questions, we are enabled to understand the heart of Jesus teaching.

This isn’t just Jesus siting down because he wanted to to explain marriage.

As a pastor usually the times we get to explain marriages are a wedding or pre-marital counseling, Jesus is doing neither of these things here.

But for Jesus there are some specific questions he is being asked in a specific context that he is speaking into, and we need to wrestle with these.

We should not contextually that there has been a change here, we have moved form a discourse to a narrative, how do we know that?

Matthew Tells us! Matthew 19:1 “Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.”

So he Finishes his conversations on church discipline, forgiveness, a couple of parables, the unforgiving servant and the lost sheep, the questions of who is the greatest in the kingdom.

And now, having finished those he heads out, went away to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan, and large crowds are following his, as was the case.

And he is healing people, as usual.

So Jesus is doing Jesus things.

eh is going around teaching and healing.

But here once again we are met with the enemies of Jesus (for lack of a better way to put it) that we have seen before in the book of Matthew.

The Pharisees come up to him.

We are going to see an increasing division between Jesus and the Pharisees as we get closer and closer to the cross.

And so as this difficulty and strife between Jesus and the Pharisees begins to gear up, their heart of seeking to trick, or besmirch the name of, or just at least humiliate Jesus is going to come to the forefront.

And so the fist question to Jesus comes from the Pharisees, it is about divorce and they ask: Matthew 19:3 “And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?””

Is it LAWFUL

We should note about this question a few thing.

One: when asking is it lawful, the specific angle that the Pharisees are coming from is: can I still be righteous, can I still be considered sort of pure in God’s eyes, can I still be, i mean, one way that they are asking, Can I still be a pharisees, can i still be a religious leader, can I still be the important person i want to be, can I still be according to God’s law, do all the things I want to If I divorce my wife for any reason.

Shortly: does it break the laws of God, can i still be righteous and holy?

This question is probably not asked by the pharisees in good faith.

They think they know the answer, they just want to pin Jesus. it turns out, even 2000 years ago, divorce was controversial, there were strong opinions on all sides, there were people who would say YES to this question, people who would say NO and people all the way in between.

And so part of the pharisees goal in asking this question is to get at least some group to turn on Jesus.,

This is the sort of question that when you ask it your goal is to pin the person to an answer, because the pharisees know SOMEONE will be mad.

So in effect they are saying lets get to the heart of the matter.

What are your feeling s about divorce. is it lawful to divorce ones wife for any cause.

SO Jesus answers.

And Jesus answer, at the heart of it i would say is this: If you are asking the question in this way then you just don’t get it.

If your very question is “how can I get out of.

what are the ways and reasons that I can get out of marriage then you have missed the point completely already.”

Matthew 19:4 “He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,” Hey Guys, I know this is difficult, you guys are biblical scholars, and busy guys, so maybe you have not made it this far in the scroll of the book of Genesis, it is you know all the way into the FIRST chapter when God creates them male and female.

Matthew 19:5 “and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?”

I know it is hard and difficult pharisees, to wrap your mind around what is being said by moses and God when he describes what happens, so let me help you.

He leaves his father and mother and he clings to his wife.

and the two become one flesh.

So they are no longer two but one.

Matthew 19:6 “So they are no longer two but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.””

So here is your answer.

If you re asking this question, if this is where you are starting, you have it all wrong.

God ordained marriage, God made human beings such that Marriage was a perfect and beautiful gift given by God.

The two who were once separate, who were once completely separate are now made ONE, and this in an intimate and personal way.

but this combining is NOT BY MAN.

See when you ask this question you are already talking like marriage is a man centered man ordained man empowered thing that was given to us. and so Men and women get marriage and men and women join together so that men and women can do this and men and women can get divorces, and you are missing the point Jesus says.

God does this.

it is a gift from God by God.

No matter how we slice it, no matter what the world wants to say or how we feel Marriage is a gift, given by, instituted by, ordained by sealed by and empowered by God himself.

A difficulty that all pastors face is this question: If two unbelievers, if an unbelieving man and an unbelieving woman want to get married, should a christian pastor perform the marriage?

and the answer that I have landed on is yes, and this is the reason why, because it is a gift that God has given to the world.

In his common grace it is given to all peoples.

But starting with the question: can i get a divorce?

this means you have missed the heart and the thought of the gift.

So if you are asking is it lawful in a Pharisaical sort of way, and a still i can be righteous and holy in my own eyes if i do this?

part of what Jesus is saying is - probably not.

divorce is a warping and breaking of a precious gift given to us by God. it is woven into the very fabric of how God created us.

It is not good.

Of all the things that can and should be said about divorce, lets start there, its not good.

What God has joined together let not man separate.