Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:31-31)

Matthew 5:31-32 “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.”

Opening remarks

Becoming a Christian is something that happens in a moment.

Becoming a disciple is something that happens over time.

Hopefully the Holy Spirit is pointing out the anger and the lust in your own life.

You may be unsure of how you will ever get beyond these things.

Remember, it is a process.

That process may have ten steps; it may have 100 steps.

The key is that you agree with God that the process needs to take place.

Then you let Him work through the process in your life.

Whether that be for forgiveness, reconciliation, or purity.

Today we are going to talk about a topic that has affected probably every family in this room.

I want everyone to understand where we stand as a church regarding the issue of divorce.

We are 100% against married couples getting divorced.

We want to do everything we can to prevent divorce.

But, we are aware of the widespread effect that divorce has had on our society.

Our goal is to also love and minister without judgment to those that have been divorced.

In our passage this morning, Jesus addresses the topic of divorce.

There are three perspectives that we want to examine this topic from today.

What did the law teach about divorce?

What did the pharisees teach about divorce?

What did Jesus teach about divorce?

By looking at it this way, hopefully we can all reshape our thinking to be more inline with Jesus on this matter.

God willing, you will never have to go through a divorce (or another divorce).

You will almost certainly have to counsel someone who does.

What did the law teach about divorce?

Who wrote the law?

If God wrote the law and Jesus is God, then we can see that He was responsible for what the law said.

As such, and since God never changes, then neither had his opinion on the matter.

Jesus could not, would not contradict the law.

The law’s teaching on divorce can be found in Deuteronomy 24:1-4

Deuteronomy 24:1–4 KJV 1900

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. 2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife. 3 And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; 4 Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the Lord: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

There is kind of a lot going on here, so lets try to unpack it.

The first feature is that the husband finds some uncleanness in his wife.

It says that she finds no favor in his eyes, but this must be true on account of the uncleanness.

This cannot be adultery because under the law, anyone guilty of adultery would be killed.

The marriage is therefore dissolved, and so no need for a divorce.

The uncleanness that is mentioned here is in relation to the law that God has given his people.

Whatever it was, the husband had discovered it and it has made their relationship unable to continue.

There were a few options that a man could choose from before the law.

He could kill his wife.

He could treat her as a slave and marry another wife.

He could cast her out with nothing.

Unfortunately, all three of these are common.

So, the second feature that God introduces is the requirement of a bill of divorcement.

This would need to be obtained from the city magistrates.

The husband would need to prove the uncleanness which would require two witnesses.

The magistrate would then grant the divorcement after sufficient evidence or testimony had been produced.

This feature accomplishes a couple of things.

It takes away the ability of the husband to divorce his wife for frivolous reasons.

It also makes it so that he cannot cast her out without warning.

If the divorce was approved, the wife would be given a bill of divorcement.

This was for her protection.

It protected her from being accused as an adulterer.

It also freed her to remarry.

Remember, if you would the blatant truth that we are all unclean.

The uncleanness discovered by the husband may have been past or may have been something to which he could have shown grace.

If you read this and only focus on the fact that we see the husband appealing for divorce, you are missing the point.

God gave this command in order to protect the women of Israel and to provide them an opportunity to remarry.

To summarize, the law allowed divorce on the grounds of an uncleanness that was less than adultery.

This protected women.

It allowed them to remarry.

What then, were the pharisees teaching about divorce?

Well, the Bible clues us in on their doctrine.

Both here and in Matthew 19:3 “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?”

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

The Pharisees were teaching that if a man had any cause against his wife, then the law commanded him to put her away.

This is not the teaching of the law of Moses.

The only thing that the pharisees got right from the law was the fact that a female divorcee must be given a bill of divorcement.

The pharisees had strict rules about the document, even going so far as to say that it must be exactly 12 lines of text long.

The pharisees were teaching that divorce was justified for any cause so long as the document provided to the wife met their standards.

Once again we see that the pharisees had stripped the law of it’s intended force.

They had instead focused solely on a single feature.

Notice that in verse 21 and 27, Jesus said “ye have heard that it was said by them of old time...”

But in verse 31, He says “it hath been said.”

Could it be that this was a unique offering of the current generation of Jewish leaders?

It’s possible.

The problem is apparent in that the pharisees were contributing to the low view of marriage and making it easier and acceptable to get divorced.

How does Jesus view divorce?

As His disciples, that is what should matter the most to us.

A disciple of Jesus has to be able to accept Jesus’ doctrine even when it conflicts with man or society’s beliefs.

When it comes to divorce this can be seen pretty clearly.

Given what we know about the pharisees’ teaching on divorce, what do you think are the chances that there may have been as many people in His audience as in ours that had been touched by divorce.

Jesus teaches His disciples that there is only one justifiable reason for divorce and remarriage.

Jesus’ teaching here is not solely focused on divorce.

He also deals with the conditions for remarriage after divorce.

The crux of the matter is this word fornication.

We will look at what fornication means in just a second.

But, can I point out to you that Jesus does not command divorce in the case fornication.

Even when fornication has been committed, there can still be room for forgiveness and healing.

Fornication, as I have mentioned before, is an umbrella word.

It is a general term that applies to sexual immorality.

It is unique from the word adultery.

It is more broad than adultery.

Regarding remarriage, Jesus says that unless the divorce was precipitated by fornication, then the preceding marriage(s) will be seen as adulterous.

Before you turn me off go back to verse 27.

How many of Jesus’ listeners heard Him say that and thought, “I am not an adulterer”?

Then last week He highlights the adulterous nature of lustful eyes or a lustful heart, and still some said to themselves, “I am not an adulterer.”

So, now, He says if you or your spouse were previously married and that marriage ended for a reason other than fornication, you are an adulterer.

Is it possible that some or many of them would have to admit, if that is the case then I am an adulterer?

I think that there is a good possibility that this is the case.

But why?

Why is it so important for them to see this?

What is He accomplishing in their hearts?

What was He, on that day, in His infinite wisdom trying to accomplish in our hearts?

Was he trying to weaken the marriages that were present?

No, I believe that if Jesus were here to speak to those that have been divorced and remarried, He would never advocate another divorce.

Jesus would tell every person that is remarried to stay faithful to their current spouse.

The primary purpose for Jesus’ words here is that He is trying to focus every hearer of His words on their need for Him.

He is trying to help us see our need for a Savior.

It’s the same as killing.

If it’s only about murder, I’m innocent.

If it’s about unjust anger, I’m guilty.

I have never committed adultery.

Neither am I a divorcee nor am I married to one.

But I deal with a lustful heart.

Jesus is showing us that we all need to realize our poverty of spirit.

Jesus is showing us that we all have sin over which we should mourn.

When we see ourselves for who we really are, then we recognize that we need someone like Him to make up for our failings.

I don’t know everyone’s story here today.

I know some.

I know we all need Jesus.

I know the point that Jesus is trying to make is that we would turn our eyes to Him.

Jesus wants to be the Hero the Savior of your story.

In order for Him to fulfill that role, you have to understand your need to be saved.

The pharisees were making people believe that they were righteous when they weren’t.

That’s why the Pharisees largely rejected Jesus, they didn’t need Him.

Jesus is trying to help us see that we do need Him and He is here for us.