Sermon Tone Analysis

Stats Tell a Story

There are 277 divorces per hour, 6,646 divorces per day, 46,523 divorces per week, and 2,419,196 divorces per year.

The divorce rate of those age 50 and older has doubled and for those over 65 it has tripled.

It turned out to be a 200 year old copy of the Declaration of Independence, one commission to be printed by John Quincy Adams in 1820.

After looking it over, he had a suspicion it might be pretty old and potentially rare.

They found an old shoe box that had very ornate oriental vase inside.

figuring it was probably worth something, they took it to get it appraised.

The divorce rate of those age 50 and older has doubled and for those over 65 it has tripled.

They were astounded when it was appraised for over $9 million.

Turns out it was

Just 2 days prior it hung on the garage of another man who’s wife had told him to clean out the garage and get rid of the clutter, he had purchased it for $10 10 years before.

One out of every 2 marriages fail.

The document later was sold to an investment firm for $477,650.

Something they had no clue their parents even owned was now going to make them wealthy.

What seemed like an old, insignificant piece of paper was actually a treasure in disguise.

They decided to auction it off and to their astonishment a collection of Chinese collectors began a bidding war.

40 percent of those ages 18-34 believe marriage is obsolete.

The war ended with the vase selling for over $80 million dollars.

Something they

Is it possible that marriage is obsolete, broken beyond repair?

Or maybe we just don’t know how to be married.

Maybe we don’t really even know what marriage is.

Things haven’t changed much in 2000 years, Jesus dealt with the same mis understanding about marriage then too.

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The Pharisees ask Jesus if you can divorce for any reason

There were two views amongst the pharisees concerning the understanding of

Was it saying a husband could divorce his wife if he found “anything” indecent with her

One side understood Deu

Or was it saying there must be something “indecent” with her, particularly sexual infidelity.

They were trying to get Jesus caught up in a debate so they could pick him apart.

This, unfortunately, is a common question in our culture as well

How can I get out of this mess?

How can I escape this hopeless situation?

What are my “acceptable options” for moving on?

There are loads of stats on the reason people divorce

Here is one study’s reasons for Divorce today:

Lack of commitment 73%

Argue too much 56%

Infidelity 55%

Married too young 46%

My goal today is not to paint a picture that marriage is easy and that you need to grit your teeth, put a smile on your face and act like everything is okay.

Unrealistic expectations 45%

Lack of equality in the relationship 44%

I also realize that some of the things I am going to say today are going to be hard for some to hear.

Lack of preparation for marriage 41%

Abuse 25%

My purpose today is not to point the reasons for divorce in Scripture, but to, prayerfully, show you the magnificent purpose God has for marriage.

My prayer is that by seeing God’s purpose for marriage that we will fight to restore marriage in our culture and that the marriages represented today (and the ones that will come later) will be stronger as we embrace that purpose in our marriages.

There are many people here today that have gone through divorce:

My goal is not to pile guilt and shame on you over your divorce.

Our God is a God of redemption and the Gospel is good news even when it concerns our relationship histories.

He makes all things new, and my prayer is that God will restore your broken past and redeem your future.

I also realize there are people here today in the midst of the pain and despair of marriages that seem to be hopeless.

Two things:

I hope and pray that this message will give you hope, whether or not your marriage survives or not.

You have a Father in heaven who loves you and intends to use everything in your life for His glory and for your good.

Rest in Romans 8:28

You are not defined by the circumstances of your life.

Your identity is not “a divorcee” — you are a child of God, dearly loved by your father in heaven.

You are not a “broken vessel — In God shows us that He is a God who takes what is broken and makes it new and beautiful.

God hates divorce but He doesn’t hate you.

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I pray God will restore you marriage.

Keep praying, but pursue Jesus more than your spouse.

My goal today is to answer the question “What is the purpose of Marriage?”

What is Marriage?

If order for me to answer that question we have to understand where marriage comes from.

What

I) Marriage is God’s Creation.

Jesus does something in that we must take note of:

matt 19:4

He answers the Pharisee’s questions by going back to creation.

There were 2 differing understandings for why you would

Reasons for Divorce today:

Lack of commitment 73%

Argue too much 56%

Infidelity 55%

Married too young 46%

Unrealistic expectations 45%

Lack of equality in the relationship 44%

Lack of preparation for marriage 41%

Abuse 25%

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We learn 3 things about God’s design of marriage in this passage:

1) God designed the standards of marriage.

This is a zoomed in account of the creation of mankind.

It started with a man, Adam.

After God had given Adam his duty as the caregiver of creation he tells Adam “You are insufficient, incomplete by yourself, you need someone else, a helpmate.”

He then parades animals in front of Adam, who give each a name, but doesn’t find any of them to be a suitable helpmate.

After putting Adam to sleep, God makes Eve from Adam’s rib and when Adam wakes up he sees her and proclaims “WO-MAN!!”

In Adams words we see the first example of God’s handiwork in the design of marriage.

God designed man and woman and brought them together in a beautiful and God-honoring union.

- God designed man and woman and brought them together in a beautiful and God-honoring union.

God designed marriage to be between One Man and One Woman.

In a culture that wants to redefine marriage, we are not fighting a political war, we are EMBRACING a GOD DESIGNED STANDARD of marriage.

2) God designed the commitment of marriage.

“Man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife”

Marriage is not just a step in a relationship, it is a change of allegiance and a change of responsibility.

Grow up and take responsibility.

Marriage is primarily a picture of God’s love for us.