What God Has Joined...

PRAY

50min approx.

Introduction

We continue today to study our series of the Sermon on the Mount. It has been a good month since we visited this series, what with Father's Day, Worker Appreciation Sunday, and our vacation, so I want to recap as quickly as I can what we have seen so far.

Sermon on the Mount Recap

You'll remember that this series over the Sermon on the Mount is actually a sub-series that is part of the life of Christ call The Way, The Truth, and the Life: Studying Jesus Through the Gospels.

By the time we get to Matthew chapters 5-7, which is the record of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been engaged in public ministry for about a year and a half. He has gathered 12 very close disciples, performed many miracles, and preached many sermons. One of the topics he has preached quite a bit on has been the Kingdom of God/Heaven.

He has already clarified that entering into the Kingdom of Heaven is not a matter of keeping up with traditions or a matter of birth or cultural/religious identification. It is a matter of spiritual rebirth that can only happen by faith in the Son of God, the Messiah, the Chosen One, the Christ, Jesus himself. Jesus has declared that he was sent by the heavenly Father to take away the sin of the world.

This rebirth, or as Jesus called it in his conversation with Nicodemus, being born again, is through the Spirit, and it transforms not only the destiny of a person - changing their destiny from condemnation to being adopted into God's family - but also changes that person's character.

So in Matthew 5, we see Jesus being followed by a great multitude of people, some out of curiosity, others no doubt hoping to witness or be the recipients of a miracle, some trying to gather incriminating evidence against this man that they had begun to hate, and others had followed because they had become true disciples of Jesus. These followers had experienced a rebirth, and Jesus sits down on the side of a mountain and begins to teach them. All the others are able to hear, but Jesus directs his teaching at this time directly to those that are his disciples.

As he opens his mouth, Jesus begins teaching on the character traits that every Christian, every disciple of Christ has. We know these as the Beatitudes. It becomes very evident that these characteristics must be developed through the power of the Holy Spirit as we walk with Christ. There is no other way that we could possibly live like this. But then, as Jesus teaches these Beatitudes, these character traits, he also explains that allowing God to develop these traits within us will bring us a happiness that could not exist otherwise.

Following that, Jesus then gives his disciples our purpose in this world - to be salt and light. We are to live our lives so closely following Jesus that these character traits emanate from us and in so doing, they help slow and even stop the corrupting effects of sin in our circles, but also shine a light illuminating a dark and lost world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

These teachings and others that Jesus has already been preaching about have caused quite a stir among the Jews. Some wonder if Jesus is there to replace the Law and do away with it. So Jesus proceeds to explain that he is there to fulfill the law, not to destroy it. He also tells those listening that the Scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the day, have not been teaching the words or the application of the law in accordance to what God intended - they have corrupted the teachings. So Jesus begins to set things straight. He goes straight to the heart of the matters of the law, the spirit of the law. He emphasises in his teachings that it is the heart, the intentions as the laws are followed, that really are the most important focus.

Each law hangs upon the two greatest commandments: Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind; and thou shalt love others as yourself.

This means, Jesus goes on to say, that it is not enough to simply not murder someone, but we must also understand that anger without a cause and even justifiable anger that is held for too long is the essence of murder and we stand just as guilty before God for that anger and resentment as we would before a court of law had we murdered someone.

Jesus goes on to say that as bad as adultery is, the sin that leads ultimately is lust (or covetousness), and that lust is as contemptible to God as the actual act of adultery itself.

Jesus then gives two statements that show how serious the issue of sin is. "If your right hand offends you, cut it off; and if your right eye offends you (causes you to sin), pluck it out." Though Jesus is not advocating self-mutilation here, he is by his words showing how we must be willing to violently put away from us those things that lead us into temptation because sin is so highly corrosive in a Christian's life.

Jesus' Teachings on Marriage and Divorce

This brings us to today's portion of Scripture. Please turn with me and read along as we go through Matthew 5:31-32 as we discuss Jesus' teachings on marriage and divorce.

As we go through this, I want to encourage you to write down any questions you have about this topic that maybe I will not have time to clear up in the sermon. After this time, we will have our Life Group time. During that time will be a great time to be able to answer questions concerning this topic. If you want to ask these questions in a more private environment, just let me or Tahsha know, and we'll set up a time where we can answer these things more in depth.

31 -- It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

I want us to break down exactly what these verses are saying and, also very importantly, what they are not saying.

I plan on giving you some historical and cultural context as well throughout this sermon, which can be very helpful in understanding what it says.

I know that this subject is something that can be touchy for many here. There are many Christian families that have been touched by divorce in some way or another. Probably every person here knows someone who has gone through the ordeal of divorce, so I want to be very careful how I treat this subject, but at the same time, just because some passages and teachings of the Bible are difficult, it does not give us a right to ignore those or skip over them.

As a pastor, I am instructed and held accountable to teach the complete counsel of God. So as we come to this passage that may be touchy and maybe a bit uncomfortable to discuss, I promise to subject this to the same systematic exposition we have seen in every other area of the sermon on the mount up until now.

First things first, lets take a look at Verse 31. It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:

IT HATH BEEN SAID

By whom? By the Scribes and the Pharisees. This is the pattern that Jesus has used so far to counter the false or incomplete teachings of the religious leaders of the day. (It has been said/ you have heard that it has been said of old - but I say unto you...)

WHAT HAS BEEN SAID?

That whoever puts away his wife should give her a writing of divorcement.

So, before we can rightly get into the teachings of divorce, we need to understand first Jesus' teachings on marriage.

We find Jesus once again teaching about marriage and divorce later on in the book of Matthew, so I will ask you to go to Matthew 19.

I do want remind this assembly that this sermon is not just for those that are married. This sermon is not just for those that are going through a rough patch in their marriage. This sermon is for every single person here, because if you are not married, chances are, you will one day consider marriage.

Maybe, in your mind, that boat has sailed for you. Well, I guarantee that you know someone who is married, and someday, a friend of yours may ask you your views on marriage and divorce. There are things that the Bible is silent about. Somebody may ask me, "Hey, Mike, what is your opinion on when a good time to go to bed is?" You will find zero references in the Bible to help you form an opinion on this topic, so at that time, I could give them my opinion.

However, there are topics of life that the Bible speaks to, and one of those topics is marriage and divorce. About ten years ago, I had a friend call me up and ask me what I thought about his situation. It was a rough situation, and he asked what I thought about him getting a divorce. I went to the Bible, told him what Jesus' teachings on marriage and divorce were and gave my opinion based on that. And some day, you may find yourself in a similar boat, so this message is for all of us this morning.

Matthew 19:1-3 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan; 2 And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.

3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

In order to tempt Jesus, the Pharisees ask him a controversial question. To understand the position in which they place Jesus, it is necessary to go back to the book of Deuteronomy 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

The word uncleanness and how it is used has a literal translation that would read like this - The Hebrew means “some matter of nakedness.” We know that this is not a matter of adultery, because the punishment for adultery was death by stoning. But it seems that this could be an issue of sexual deviance that did not involve adultery, or that it was a matter of some secret sin or happening that when found out would bring deep shame (the word nakedness in Hebrew also meaning shame).

But in Jesus' day, there were two schools of thought and two main teachings, depending whose school you belonged to. Rabbi Hillel took a very lax view of this and said said that the husband could divorce the wife for almost any reason - she didn't cook right, her face was not pleasing, she walked with a limp, etc.

Rabbi Shammai took a stricter view and said that Moses was speaking only about sexual sin.

Do you see the trap that has been laid for Jesus here? No matter who he agrees with, someone is going to be offended and have a reason to say he is going against the law (or an interpretation of the law).

So let's look at Jesus' response. Matthew 19:4-6 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Jesus, instead of going to Mosaic law, went even further back to Edenic Law, that is to say, the law of the Garden of Eden. When God created Adam out of the dust of the ground, he said, "It is not good that man should be alone." So God created a woman for him to be his equal companion and meet the need of companionship (read about this in Genesis 2). Then Jesus quotes Genesis 2:24 when he says, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall one flesh." When God spoke this, Adam and Eve were the only people in existence. They had no parents, so when God spoke these words, he spoke them as a reference for the future generations.

Jesus then explains it in Matthew 19:6 - So then they are no more twain/two separate entities, but one flesh. What God has joined together, let not man put asunder.

Since Jesus did not fall into the trap that was laid for him, the Pharisees continue their questioning.

Matthew 19:7 They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

Again, these men are referencing Deuteronomy 24:1. I'll ask that you turn there and read it with me. When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house.

Can anyone find a command for a man to give a writing of divorcement in this verse? The answer is "no." There is a provision for a divorce, but not a command for it. Yet the way the Pharisees had worded it, and the way that they were teaching it to the people, was that if a man found his wife to be unfavorable, he should divorce her.

So what is Jesus' reply to this? Verse 8-9 He saith unto them, -- Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered [allowed] you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

Jesus clarifies two things in verse 8. Moses allowed divorce. If you study a little into the culture of the Jews back in the time that Deuteronomy was written, there was a pandemic of divorce and remarriage. So God, not condoning divorce, but in order to slow a destructive practice among his people, allowed for divorce, but only under a certain condition, and with quite a few restrictions that you can read about in Deuteronomy chapter 24.

Jesus then clarifies that this was never God's intention. We need to understand some things about God and His sovereignty and His will. Not everything that happens is God's will. It is still under God's control, but not everything is God's will. It is not God's will that any should perish, but people die without being saved every day. It was not God's will for the nation of Israel to have a king just yet, but because they would not stop begging for it, God allowed them to have king Saul as their king. And Jesus clarifies that it is never God's will for a man and his wife to be torn apart by divorce, but because of the hardness of the Jews' hearts, through Moses he made a provision for it.

Then Jesus continues his answer in verse 9. "And I say unto you..." By this phrase, Jesus is once again claiming divine authority, because only God had the ability to declare laws. "Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."

Jesus give a very strict condition for divorce: fornication. This is to mean sexual sin.

Let's sum up and explain some things.

Marriage is a bond that happens physically, and it is a divine covenant. The married couple become "one flesh." By what 1 Corinthians 6:16 says we understand that this happens when a man and a woman have intercourse.

God then blesses this union. They have become one flesh, and by what we see from the Bible, it is God who joins that couple together in one flesh.

The only thing that can separate that bond is death, and in the Old Testament, the legal matters and moral issues were dealt with in a court of religious leaders. They had what Romans 13 calls "the sword." That is, the ability to punish. The punishment for sex outside of marriage was death. Death of the adulterer would then break the bond of marriage and the other spouse was free to marry someone else without fear of committing sin.

However, in the New Testament and in Jesus' time, the "sword" had been take away from the religious leaders. The state governing bodies had the authority now to punish, and rarely did you find adultery as something that was against the law in many countries.

So Jesus, being God, declares that divorce in light of sexual sin would be the death of a marriage, and only then could the divorcee's be remarried without committing adultery.

Which brings us to our last point - Anyone that divorces their spouse for any other reason than fornication, and then remarries, commits adultery in God's eyes because God has not broken the original union.

We see that in Matthew 19, but we also see it in Matthew 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.

It is a lot to process, and I hope that if this brought up questions in your mind you will ask them during Life Groups.

But listen, even the disciples were overwhelmed at this teaching. They told Jesus, "Its best not to marry at all then!" To which Jesus responded, "Well, not everyone can do that."

But I hope that this knowledge helps you ask this question: Why is God so strict about marriage and divorce? Why does God hold marriage in such high regard? These are the right questions to ask, and we can look at the Bible for the answers.

Jesus instituted marriage to benefit mankind, but it was an institution that carried with a very special symbolism.

In the Old Testament, God refers to Israel as his wife. God uses the picture of marriage to show His relationship to Israel so that the Israelites can see how much God loves them. God put a stop to frivolous divorces in Deuteronomy so that marriage would not be viewed as cheap, but sacred.

In the New Testament, God refers to the church as his bride. Divorce cheapens marriage, and God wants us to view marriage as one of the most sacred and precious relationships we could possibly enter so that when we view his relationship toward His church, we can view it as he does. Sacred, precious, worth much, and not disposable.

God gave an example of how much he loved the Jews and coveted their love in the Old Testament and how much he covets the church's love in this church age in the Old Testament book of Hosea.

The book of Hosea opens up with an odd command from God for the prophet Hosea. God is going to use Hosea's life as an object lesson for the nations of Israel and Judah (this is after Israel has split into the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah, respectively).

So God tells Hosea, go and marry a prostitute so that I con show Israel how they have become unfaithful to me, going after false gods and trusting material gain.

So Hosea does. Hosea 1:3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

So Hosea's marriage was going to be an object lesson to the nations, but so were his children. Hosea is told what to name each of his children, and it starts with this son. God commands Hosea to name him Jezreel, which means the Lord scatters. This was to be a reminder to Israel that God's judgment was soon to come upon the nation.

But then Gomer conceives two more times, and the children's names are significant for two different reasons. Let's look at them.

Hosea 1:6-9 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away. 7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. 8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son. 9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

God named these two children as well. The daughter's name, Loruhamah, means no mercy or no love. So Hosea proclaims that his daughter is not the product of his and Gomer's love.

The son's name, Loammi, means not my people or not my family. Basically, Hosea named his second son, "Not My Kid." That one is a whole lot more direct and to the point.

You might say, those are horrible names for your children, but God did it for a purpose, which we don't have time to get into this morning. I want to focus on Gomer, not the kids.

Remember Gomer's profession before she got married? She was a prostitute.

It seems that she did not leave her profession after she married Hosea.

Chapter 2, which we will not read because of time, but I will encourage you to read it (it is included in the notes), references that Loruhamah and Loammi are not Hosea's children, but they are children of Gomer's infidelities. When Hosea named his children, it was all out in the open, not just for Hosea's family to know about, but because Hosea was a prophet and a public figure, the whole nation of Israel now knew that Loruhamah and Loammi were not Hosea's kids.

And yet, Hosea still pursues his wife. What Gomer had done was grounds for legitimate divorce, in fact, it was grounds for her to be stoned to death and for Hosea to be free to find another wife, yet Hosea still loves her.

When you read Hosea chapter 2 you find that Gomer was what we might call a gold digger. She chases after men because they give her things. In her endeavor to make a profit, she finds she is losing money. She chases and pursues these men, but can't overtake them, or be satisfied. All the while, she does not realize that Hosea has been the one that has always been there providing food and money and sustenance for her. She takes it all for granted, and what Hosea gives her, she uses it in worship of false gods and to increase her prostitution.

She sinks so low into her previous life of a prostitute that she becomes a slave. She has become so indebted that what she once enjoyed, what once gave her pleasure, now has her in a state that she must sell her body as payment.

The next chapter describes one of two scenarios. Read it with me and I will explain a little more.

Hosea 3:1-3 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet [go again], love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. 2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley [a total worth of 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave]: 3 And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.

These verses describe Hosea either going to a sex-slave market and bidding on his own wife, or going to a man's house who has bought her to either be a wife or concubine and buying her back from him.

Imagine the anguish that Hosea went through showing up at a sex slave auction and have to buy back his wife. Imagine the pain of going to another man's home and bargaining for his wife.

And Hosea is not told to just buy her back, but to love her. So Hosea either goes through the bidding process, out-bidding all other would-be-buyers so that he can take her home, or gives a man his price that he paid for Gomer.

Remember, this is all an object lesson that Hosea is living out so that Israel can know God's intentions toward them.

This is God's picture of how he loves us, it serves in this day as a picture of how much he loves the church, and it is a picture of how much spouses are to love each other.

We are to love our spouse. Husbands, you are to love your wife, wives, you are to love your husbands. How much? Just like God loved Israel in the Old Testament, like Jesus loves the church and gave his life for it.

Why? Because your love to your spouse, to your husband or wife, is a picture to the world of God's love to you.

And this is why Jesus says, "Moses allowed you to get a divorce for reasons of uncleanness, but in the beginning it. was. not. so. What God has joined, let no man put asunder."

What if you have already gone through a divorce? If it has been for anything other than sexual sin, recognize it for what it is - a sin. Then confess it, and move on, living your life in God's forgiveness.

Invitation

This has been primarily a message about marriage, but as mentioned in the sermon, marriage was instituted by God as a picture of his love and commitment toward us.

A marriage is a sacred covenant that two people enter that is never meant to be dissolved.

When we enter into a personal relationship with God, he makes a sacred covenant with us that will never be dissolved.

This personal relationship is possible through Jesus Christ's sacrifice upon the cross. He shed his blood for our sins so we could, by faith, become sons and daughters of God.

Like the rings that a bride and groom exchange on their wedding day symbolizing their love and commitment to each other, God gives us the Holy Spirit as a promise and a symbol that we are his children the moment we accept Jesus as our personal savior.