Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Conscientiousness
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Intro:
AG: Today everybody’s talking about how bad it is.
Life today is so bad.
The country is so evil.
People are so wicked.
We need to get back to the way things were in the Bible.
Well, guess what, no thanks.
If you really knew what life was like in Jesus’ day, you wouldn’t want to go back there.
Jesus came into a world that was bloodthirsty and violent.
Filled with death and disease, full of prostitution and sexual sin, paganism.
The Roman leaders had orgies and homosexual sex in the palaces.
And unlike current politicians, they didn’t even have to deny it.
And in the area of marriage, things couldn’t have been worse.
Marriage in Jesus’ day had disintegrated to the point where it was no longer honored, valued, cherished.
It wasn’t until death do us part, it was until I (the man) want out.
A big part of the problem was that women weren’t valued.
They had no rights.
They were treated as a piece of property or as slaves.
One Rabbi is quoted as saying, “I would rather be a Gentile or a dog than to be a woman.”
One of the things that’s so amazing about Jesus’ ministry is how much value he places on women.
He had women disciples – didn’t happen in those days.
He interacts personally with them – didn’t happen.
He stands up for women; didn’t happen.
Christianity sometimes gets a bad rap for being chauvinistic, but Jesus and the Gospel have been liberating women for 2,000 years.
In the places where the Gospel hasn’t liberated women, especially Islamic countries, women still are treated as property.
Because of the low view of women, there was a low view of marriage.
It stands to reason that if a woman is my property, I should be able to treat her however I want.
She’s mine.
And if I don’t want her anymore, I can get rid of her.
Throw her out.
That was actually a common practice – it was known as putting her out / putting away.
If a man was no longer interested, for whatever reason, he could just put her out – kick her out.
She’d be left defenseless – had no rights, no job, no place to live – often forced to prostitution or into another, possibly illegal relationship.
And this caused a lot of problems.
Keep this in mind as we read Matthew 5:31-32
TS: Jesus again uses the familiar pattern of contrasting the teachings they had heard with the teaching of God’s word.
Speaking to the Very ones who invented cheap disposable marriages, Jesus called them back to God’s plan.
RS: I doubt there is anything we could talk about today that has caused more hurt to the collective group assembled here than this topic of divorce.
It has touched every family in some way.
Research shows us the majority of marriages ending in divorce have average levels of happiness and conflict.
In other words, these are not deeply troubled, physically or emotionally abusive relationships, although even those are not always irreversibly broken.
In short, most of the marriages that end in divorce are just plain average, or "good enough."
Instead of throwing in the towel, these average marriages could be improved over time – if the spouses stayed together.
Even though divorce is fairly common, It’s also incredibly painful…
Stress charts that show the levels of stress caused by various occurrences in our lives.
Studies reveal divorce is more stressful than any other single event except the death of a spouse.
It causes more stress than being fired, more stress than a jail term, and more stress than the death of a close friend and a mortgage foreclosure combined.
At least death brings some closure – it’s over.
With divorce it’s never over.
Your former spouse is still out there somewhere, walking around, and in most cases dealing with you.
The pain just keeps coming
In order to understand God’s will on this issue, we must first understand:
God’s View of Marriage
God designed marriage for a purpose:
We were made in God’s image and husband and wife were brought together as one to serve God as one.
Adam was incomplete without Eve
God created her, literally custom made her, for Adam and the two became 1!
God’s desire is for two to walk together and serve the Lord side by side for life.
God’s plan was and remains that a man and woman submitting to Christ and each other, loving the each other for the rest of their lives.
Literally, the two become one
There’s no divorce in that plan.
God’s plan for marriage is that it be a life-long covenant.
This is no mere contract based on performance;
if you do this, then I’ll do that.
Marriage isn’t a transaction.
Lawn service is a transaction;
it’s a contract.
Committed to my lawn partner as long as he cuts my lawn.
Marriage is a covenant.
I swear to God to be faithful until death, no matter what you do or what happens to you.
Go back and watch your wedding video.
IL: (John and Lucille Womack – 63 years.
Dementia for about 5 yrs.
Alz for over 2. John’s not in the marriage for what he can get out of it – there’s very little he gets at this point.
He’s in a covenant with God.
In Ephesians 5 we learn that marriage is a picture of Christ’s love for His bride, the church.
Paul addresses many issues among the believers in Eph 5.
He finally reaches this:
As believers, we submit to one another, that includes husbands and wives.
Then, specifially in the home:
wives submit to the husband
follow his leadership
Husbands, love her like Christ does the church
How did He love the church?
sacrificially!
He gave His life for us.
He put aside all selfish thought and self-preservation and went to the cross for 1 purpose: to benefit us!
Men, that is the call God has given to us as husbands!
Put her needs ahead of our own.
Do what is best for the family, not for yourself.
That’s God’s plan for marriage.
It’s not a contract, it’s a covenant.
And when we see it done right, it’s a beautiful thing.)
God never wanted people to experience the pain of divorce.
God’s intention for marriage explains His view of divorce.
Sadly, God knew the fall would happen and when you bring sinful human beings together, it would damage even the sacred union of marriage.
Let us now see
God’s view of Divorce
Because God has such a high view of marriage:
Remember, Jesus is speaking to arrogant men ho though their marriage was disposable.
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