God's Plan for Marriage

Here we a re in the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is raising the standard for what it means to be a follower of Him. He is raising the standard as internal from the law. Now it comes to the issue of marriage

We live in a culture that is very anti-marriage. Very few couples are getting married, instead they are just living together, also the divorce rate is still way too high. This country has no-fault divorce, divorce lawyers, and alimony. Divorce is almost an industry now. And that flies in this culture today, but also the Jewish culture, as they were divorce happy as well, specifically over one verse in Deuteronomy where it talks about uncleanness. There were two school of thoughts, one was that uncleanness means immorality, and the other school of thought was that any wrong move could prove to be for divorce, including if a wife burned her husband’s breakfast. But Jesus is letting the disciples and the crowd know that divorce is not God’s plan and marriage is permanent.

Why is marriage permanent?

God hates divorce

Jesus is not answering the crowd on which school of thought He agrees with, but instead goes back to Scripture

In reality there is not any exception clause with God

Jesus says that Moses only put the exceptions for divorcement because of the hardness of people’s hearts

Malachi 2:16 “For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: For one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.”

Divorce is something that God hates but because of the hardness of people’s heart it was permitted

But it was not so in the beginning

God made man and woman who are married one, as men and women complement each other so they will be complete

God’s picture

Ephesians 5 shows what marriage is ultimately a picture of: Christ and the church

A man who divorces his wife is showing something that is contrary to the Word of God because Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” A man divorcing his wife shows Christ leaving His Bride, His Church. It also shows that Christ does not love the church if a man does not love his wife.

A woman who divorces her husband shows something that is contrary to the Word of God because the Bible says 1 John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us.” It shows that the church leaving the Lord, which the Bible says that those who leave the Lord for good, were never of the Lord. Also if a wife does not respectfully submit to her husband it shows the church not submitting to Christ.

There was this video, about the worst police sketch ever, it shows this guy who has a very triangular chin like this… . However the mug shot shows a guy who a very square face. The picture looked very different from what was actually true, and that is what happens when someone divorces. It shows a picture far true from reality.

What does this mean for you as a teenager?

You have to be super careful about who you marry. One pastor rightly said it is the second most important decision in your life, after salvation. It is not something to take lightly, nor to jump into without much thought and prayer. My wife and I were talking about last night, and mentioning our past. I was not the first guy my wife dated, and even though she was the first girl, who I truly dated, there were times before where I was going after other girls, and both of us agreed that we are right for each other, and we were so glad we ended up with each other and not the other ones. And even though my wife and I are glad we are with each other, that does not mean we have a problem-free marriage. On the contrary, we have our disputes and arguments. Marriage is hard. Also my counsel for you guys is to put off dating until you’re ready to marry. Partly because teenage years should be focused on maturing. Also because I have seen people get stuck in relationships that they should have ended, and rather than breaking up before it was too late, went further and further so they could not get out. What people thought was light and innocent, took it too far. Or people would say, I’ll break up when we graduate, and they put it off, so much that it was harder for them to do it.

Also you need to take this time to develop into becoming the right one, rather than looking for the one. These are the years that you will form your habits from.And if you just spend all this time formulating bad habit, then when you enter into marriage you will have a lot of fights. Also you will have the hard time finding the right one, if you are not. Because people will see you, and say “no thanks”. Guys if you just spend all your time playing video games or being lazy, girls will not be interested in you. Girls is you just try to be bossy and stuck up toward everyone you meet, guys will stay away from you.

Since marriage is permanent, it should make you understand the seriousness of it, and not take it lightly.