Marriage, Divorce & Remarriage....
It is our practice at Grace Life to preach expositionally; that is, we preach through every passage of the book of the Bible we are currently studying. We do this because, as Christ followers, we must apply all of the Bible’s teaching, however difficult that may be, to our lives. In so doing, we sometimes must confront uncomfortable, painful and controversial topics such as divorce. While many of you are thriving in your marriages, many others are carrying the deep pain, betrayal and loss that divorce brings. Sadly, there is not one person that divorce has not either directly or indirectly impacted. However, we must also recognize the following; though the pain that you may be feeling is deep, Jesus will never forsake you. By studying today’s passage, we will discover the following three principals regarding marriage and divorce: 1) God permits what He hates because of hard hearts 2) God designed what He loves, marriage equals one flesh for life and 3) God prohibits what violates his design. While each principle is equally important and should be studied, this writing will primarily focus on the second principle.
During Old Testament times, there were two competing schools of thought regarding divorce: a very strict approach that limited divorce to immorality and a much more lenient approach that allowed divorce over almost anything. Two examples of the lenient approach would be for a man to divorce his wife for burning food while cooking or simply because he desired a more beautiful woman. Furthermore, a man would often use a trivial reasons to divorce his wife for cunning reasons. For example, a man may divorce his wife hoping her second husband would also divorce her or die so he could remarry her and receive a second dowry. As a result of these horrific practices, Moses wrote Deuteronomy 24:1-4 to protect women. Specifically, under this provision, when a man divorced his wife, he was forced to issue her a Certificate of Divorce so that she was free to remarry and he would never have a claim on her again.
In the first century AD, during Jesus’ ministry, the more lenient position was, as during the Old Testament times, very commonplace and divorce was easily obtained. It was during this time, that the Pharisees came to test Jesus regarding marriage and divorce. Mark, in his gospel, records it this way: “And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.' ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh' ” (Mark 10:2-5). Christian, within these verses we see two powerful truths: 1) that Moses permitted divorce only because of man’s stubborn hearts and 2) His beautiful design for marriage. That is, the second principle which is….
God designed what He loves: marriage = one flesh for life
Christian, the Pharisees rooted the brevity of marriage in convenience. Jesus grounds the permanence of marriage in divine design. Scripture teaches us that when the man and woman come together as husband and wife they become one. This God-planned oneness is multi-layered: it is both priority and permanent and it supersedes even the bond between a child and his or her parents; it forms a sacred union of one flesh and is divinely blessed because God joins the two. And, if these arguments are not enough for us to honor our marriage covenant, consider this: In Ephesians 5:22-33, Paul explains that marriage is actually a picture of Christ and His church. Saints, your marriage is a mirror to the watching world of what Christ is to His bride; that is, a reflection of self-sacrifice, humility, repentance and Christ’s loyal love. As Christ followers, we must not distort this picture. Doing so, will destroy our testimony and hinder our ability to share the gospel with others. Men, if you prioritize God’s view of the permanency of marriage, you must love you wives as Christ loves His church – that is sacrifically. Likewise, women must submit to their husbands just as the church is commanded to submit to Christ. Yes, it is absolutely true that we must forsake immorality in our marriage; however, that will not occur if both spouses follow God's teachings and treat each other with the tenderness and gentleness needed to keep a marriage strong and thriving. Brothers and sisters, are you actively reflecting the picture of Christ and His church to the world by following God’s principles with your marriage relationship? If not, will you begin doing so today?....
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