Sermon Tone Analysis

The Commands of Christ - 16

A little over a year ago, in response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, our Wednesday Bible studies changed emphasis.

We have done many good studies in the Word of God over the years.

But last year I starting leading us to focus on the main way:

For us to become more like Jesus.

To reach those outside of a committed relationship with Christ.

That was is what Jesus told us in Matthew 28:20

Jesus does not tell us to teach disciples to memorize His commands.

He tells us to learn how to OBEY EVERYTHING He commanded.

This is no doubt a challenging command.

John wrote in

We can only be responsible for what has been recorded and given to us.

But as we have seen over the past year, doing that is still a huge task that is impossible apart from the Holy Spirit.

Not finding a single curriculum, I have been synthesizing many different resources into our study.

I have used Tom Blackaby’s book: The Commands of Christ: What It Really Means to Follow Jesus to catagorize the Commands of Christ.

In the past year we have looked at the commands that relate to our coming to Christ.

Commands like:

Repent - Mark 1:14-15

Come to Jesus as a child Matthew 18:3

Love God with all our being - Matthew 22:37-40

Enter through the narrow Gate - Luke 13:24

Be born again - John 3:3

We looked at commands that deal with Jesus being our Lord, which is where we have been for several months and are now:

Deny yourself - Matthew 10:37-39; 16:24

Take up your yoke and learn from me - Matthew 11:29

Follow me - John 10:27

And then we arrived at where we have been and will be for quite some time:

The many commands that start with Jesus saying: “You have heard that it was said… ” and then concludes with, “But I tell you… ”

Most of those commands are found in the Sermon on the Mount.

A Sermon that begins in Matthew 5 with the Beatitudes.

Beatitudes that tell us commands that are so contrary to the way the world operates, the way our parents taught us, the way school taught us.

They are so different

I say all this to get us to tonight’s lesson.

I will just lay out the framework for the lesson.

I encourage you to write down questions and comments for when we are again able to have in-person classes.

So, let me dive in:

Jesus gave commands concerning marriage, divorce and remarriage that are just as hard or harder today, than when He gave them 2000 years ago.

But Jesus gives these commands for a few reasons:

First, because He created us.

John 1:2–3 (NLT)

2 He [Jesus] existed in the beginning with God. 3 God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

No no one knows us better than our Creator.

The Creator knows what’s best for His creation.

Second, Jesus gave us His commands because He LOVES us.

He wants to spare us agony, heartbreak and misery.

He wants to spare innocent children agony, heartbreak and misery.

Why would Jesus, the Good Shepherd lay down His life for us?

Because He loves us.

Third, Jesus gave us these commands because He is Lord and has absolute authority to do so.

Fourthly, Jesus gives us these commands as Someone who has walked in our shoes — Someone who knows the human condition.

Which is NOT to say that Jesus was married or divorced.

But He was around and intimately acquainted with (walked and talked with) those who were married and those who were divorced.

A Christian's Righteousness: In Marriage

December 8, 2021

Purpose: To consider why we should be faithful in marriage.

Open: Why do you think divorce is such a problem today?

Divorce is a controversial and complex subject which touches people's emotions at a deep level.

There is almost no unhappiness so painful as that of an unhappy marriage.

And there is almost no tragedy so great as when a relationship God meant for love and fulfillment degenerates into a dysfunctional relationship of bitterness, discord and despair.

Yet in spite of the painfulness of the subject, I am convinced that the teaching of Jesus on this and every subject is good—intrinsically good for individuals and for society.

In this passage Jesus calls us to faithfulness in marriage.

Storms: So here’s the problem: How do I honor and esteem marriage without dishonoring and defaming those who have experienced divorce?

And how do I encourage and affirm divorced people without appearing to minimize the importance of honoring one’s marital commitment and vows?

If I magnify the value of marriage and stress the importance of faithfulness to one’s marital vows, divorced people will feel judged and rejected and unfit for ministry and service in the church.

But if I express compassion and love for divorced people and remind them how much God really does love them, others will think I’m glossing over their failures and that I’m contributing to the very devaluation of marriage that I earlier denounced.

How do I stress the permanence of marriage without condemning the divorced?

And how do I love and affirm the divorced person without condoning sin and failure?

Storms, S. (2016).

Biblical Studies: The Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:31–19:12).

Edmond, OK: Sam Storms.

Why have any special concern over divorce and remarriage?

Storms posits Four reasons:

Divorce invariably involves sin that is more destructive than many others.

What do you think Storms means by this?

Proverbs 4:23 (NASB95) Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

CM Ward notes that when Jesus answered the question from the Pharisees about divorce He talks about “the hardness of their hearts.”

How does marriage cause hardness of heart?

When we think about it wrongly.

Frivolously

Enter marriage thinking divorce is an option.

When we major on faults and forget the good things and good times shared.

When we let the “little foxes” ruin the vineyard.

Song of Solomon 2:15 (NASB95) “Catch the foxes for us, The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards, While our vineyards are in blossom.”

1 Corinthians 6:15–20 (NASB95) Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute?

May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her?

For He says, “THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.” 17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

18 Flee immorality.

Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body.

19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

As Chuck Swindoll points out:

First, our body is a physical extension of Christ in this world (6:15).

Just as the church is the body of Christ (Eph.

4:12), and since each one is a member of that body (Rom.

12:5), the “body of Christ” cannot be regarded as only spiritual and invisible; rather, it is manifested through a physical presence, just as Christ was both spiritual and physical.

Each member of Christ’s body is to represent the Lord on earth.

Like ambassadors in a foreign land who act as their nation’s eyes, ears, hands, and mouth, we are Christ’s ambassadors in this world, carrying out His interests in His name.

Only by consecrating our physical bodies to the service of God can we fulfill our calling to be not only Christ’s heart and mind in the world, but also His hands and feet.

Second, mē genoito [3361 + 1096], “May it never be!” . . .

“God forbid!” . . .