Divorce, Oaths, Revenge Series

Series: Cliff Hangers

Introduction:

These teachings were risky, some would even say very dangerous, they would be teachings that would be opposite of what the religious leaders of the day were teaching, and they would become points of dissension and points of exhilaration. Some people would rejoice and others sigh. Some would be happy and others angry. What Jesus was teaching them he put them all on the edge of their seats. His teachings made people nervous and yet it changed the way people of His day thought or perceived what the Kingdom of Heaven was. Jesus¡¦ teaching along with their acceptance by the crowd would change the course of history between God and mankind. The people would be blown away by what Jesus taught and the religious leaders would pick up a spirit of offense against Jesus and seek His life for these teachings.

Summary:

1. Matthew 5:1-12: "Who does God Bless?"

2. Matthew 5:13-16: Salt and Light”

3. Matthew 5:17-20: “Old vs. New”

4. Matthew 5:21-26: “Really bad Sin”

5. Matthew 5:27-30: “Bulging Eyes”

6. Matthew 5:31-37: “Who me Divorced?”

Scripture Texts:

Matthew 5: 31, 32: Divorce

31 It has been said, Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.

32But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

Sermon Title: Divorce, Oaths and Revenge

Introduction:

Tom¡¦s Kennington shared last week with us the pain of divorce and the ramifications of divorce. He challenged us the church to be empathetic towards those who have been burned by this sin. He asked us to be forgiving and loving to those who are divorced. We need to allow them to heal and to allow them to be restored. Divorce is not the unpardonable sin in his view or even in my view. It¡¦s the tearing apart of two lives, a family unity and it scars deeply. Divorce is heart wrenching and devastating but the church can be a factor to help people find hope, healing and restoration. But we must approach divorce recovery in the right Biblical framework and move people along the recovery process to a point of restoration.

A few points of clarification:

There are times in the church when God will bring hurting people through our doors for us as a church to minister to them we do this by embracing them with love, by loving on them and by listening to their painful story. Last week was one of those times for Christian Hills Church. Even though Tom shared with us his broken heart - he felt our loving arms of grace reach out and tell him, “There is hope for a future Tom! His name is Jesus!” God used our church to embrace a person who was hurt and who is walking through the healing and restoration process from sin. Divorce and the tremendous impact of divorce will always bring painful and hurtful ramifications. I hope you all heard that last week from Tom’s story.

In the church realm one of the consequences of divorce is the temporary if not permanent loss of a leadership position within the church. Tom was dismissed from his pastoral position and he suffered that heartbreaking loss. He still is!

You could ask the question: “Why do the majority of churches and their leadership believe that people need to step out of their leadership positions because of divorce?” This is done for the sake of the divorcee and for the individuals they lead. Divorce is the second most dramatic event a person can go through and their needs to be a time of repentance, a time of healing, and a set time of restoration. People going through this grief and pain have a hard time dealing with leadership decisions and leadership problems. They have a difficult time making decisions. Your find yourself in cloud of confusion, a time of doubt, and a time of soul searching. The truth is divorce overwhelms their hearts, their minds and it turns their world upside down. Everything changes everything in their lives is impacted. All of their relationships are impacted by this traumatic event. We in the church realize this so we seek to help people to focus on their healing and their time of grief recovery. So it is wise even prudent that people going through divorces should step down from certain leadership positions in the church.

I don¡¦t think people should drop out or be kicked out of choir, or quit serving or not allowed to serve within the church. I think they can teach children, usher, greet and the like but if they are in senior leadership then-“yes” they should step down for a period of time.