Divorce (2)
Notes
Transcript
Some hand holds
Some hand holds
Anglican church exists because of divorce?
not about you
abuse - power; safety; church
not unforgivable -
Context: on the way to the cross -
Hearing Jesus’ emphasis
Hearing Jesus’ emphasis
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
Jesus wants to talk about marriage.
5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
God’s idea - life long, male and female, companionship, sexual union.
Matthew 19:7–8 (NIV)
7 “Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
Protection and permission is not command. Protection because of sin.
-> I’ve changed my watering days - not random in Katherine some years ago, but compulsory - obvious with local context:
Hearing Jesus properly
Hearing Jesus properly
Jesus in the sermon on the mount addressing abuses of the law - the law being only used as a checklist -
31 “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
Check. Done.
See
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
This was common and mostly accepted.
Common watering down of marriage and convenient divorce - back again in matthew 19:
see Jesus’ disciples:
10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
If you mean for better or for worse - till death -
[JtB and King Herod]
Back story:
Matthew 19:3 (NIV)
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
Comes from somewhere. A long running debate based on law in Deuteronomy.
1 If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house,
2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies,
4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
This set of laws was protection. [Defiled ? - write a qn- referring to the 1st marriage being really broken]
The first divorce a real divorce. The second marriage a real marriage.
This protection was not excuse, not a command.
8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
A hard world. A world with sin.
Back to our passage:
32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
Marriage matters. Faithfulness matters. Divorce is about faithfulness.
No remarriage after improper divorce.
Not all there is to be said. Christians have often either been righteous and unmerciful or loving and unrighteous.
—> NO standing doesn’t mean speeding ok, or seatbelts don’t matter here -
Hearing the rest of Scripture
Hearing the rest of Scripture
Jesus says this here because this was the greatest of the abuses towards marriage. Treating it casually. Treating divorce as convenient. Doesn’t mean he negates other parts of scripture.
Disciples called to God’s highest standard. Keep your promises. Be faithful.
3 things that break a marriage: 3 A’s - adultery, abuse, abandonment
Each of these As gets to the centre of a marriage covenant.
Divorce is the recognition that these have dissolved the marriage covenant: abuse, adultery, abandonment.
Second two from other places - Exodus 21 and 1 Corinthians.
10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights. 11 If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.
In a sense, these things are bound up in a marriage - protection, provision, sexual union.
10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.
Separation is a category Paul allows might happen (presumably similar to the hard heartedness comment Jesus makes).
Reconciliation is possible in Christ. Divorce is not compulsory.
15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.
The not bound here is the word Paul uses for ‘free to remarry’.
There is a way a spouse can leave a marriage but still be around - a way that even a professing Christian can ignore all calls to repent, to change, and I believe acts like an unbeliever - this is not something to be treated lightly, nor (as sadly happens) without good godly input, but the provision here might count too.
Our God draws near -
9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
This is in some ways unresolved - because divorce involves real situations and specific situations.
Our God knows you. His grace is sufficient for you.
Sin disfigures beautiful things.
God’s grace makes new creations - light in darkness, life in death.