Have An Albatross Marriage

HAVE AN ALBATROSS MARRIAGE

Mark 10:2-12

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: THE SHY PASTOR

1. A shy pastor greeted the wedding guests to the Chapel. He was very nervous and didn't say much.

2. As the couple approached the altar the pastor stepped up and gave the best speech anyone had ever heard. He was full of confidence, comfortable, and eloquent!

3. After the vows, the pastor was again extremely shy and barely said a word to anyone. Afterward, the groom approached the him and asked, "Why are you so shy? You seemed like a different person when you’re up at the altar!"

4. "Yes, I know..." said the pastor, "it’s because that’s my ALTAR EGO."

B. TEXT

2 Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3 “What did Moses command you?” he replied. 4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” 5 “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. 6 “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’[Gen. 1:27] 7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will become one flesh.’[Gen. 2:24] So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 10 When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11 He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.” Mark 10:2-12.

C. THESIS

1. The Jews tried to get Jesus to contradict Moses, asking if they could divorce “for any and every reason” (Matt. 19:3), the liberal interpretation to Deut. 24:1. Jesus pointed out that Moses’ allowance wasn’t God’s plan for marriage. God meant for it to be one man/ one woman, for a lifetime.

2. Jesus stated that Moses permitted divorce because of the “hardness of your hearts,” but that the only correct use of divorce was if there was marital unfaithfulness (Mt. 19:8-9).

3. We’re going to look at God’s original plan for marriage, the effect of hard hearts on marriage, and the 7 steps to save a troubled marriage.

4. The title of this message is “Have an Albatross Marriage.”

I. GOD’S PLAN: AN ALBATROSS MARRIAGE

A. AMAZING LOVE AFFAIR OF ALBATROSSES

1. Noah Strycker, in his book, “The Thing With Feathers,” says that Albatrosses may “have the most intense love affairs of any animal on our planet.”

2. This is not true of other birds. Jeffrey Black, in his book, “Partnership in Birds,” gives the divorce rate of various birds:

a. Flamingos...break up 99% of the time.

b. Piping Plovers...break up 67% of the time.

c. Nazca Boobies...break up 40% of the time.

d. Mallard Ducks...only have a 9% divorce rate.

e. Swans have a 5% divorce rate.

f. Albatrosses? 100% faithful!

3. According to Strycker, it can take 15 years for Albatrosses to decide on a partner, but once they’ve decided, albatrosses don't switch. "It will generally stick faithfully with its mate until one of them dies, which might not be for another fifty years."

4. The book details many wonderful facts about the development of relationships between the birds – and their relationship lasts for a lifetime! Maybe we can learn something from our feathered friends!

B. GOD’S PLAN: 1 MAN/1 WOMAN - FOR LIFE

1. The Lord Jesus, instead of wrestling with the details of Moses’ statement in Deut. 24, goes back to Genesis 1 & 2 – the “Book of Beginnings” to teach on God’s original plan for marriage. This is God’s ideal plan, the one we’re to aim for.

2. Adam couldn’t divorce his wife, because there wasn’t another woman on earth to hook up with! Someone said they had the perfect marriage: she didn’t have to hear about his mother’s cookin’ and he didn’t have to hear about all the other men she could have married!

3. Marriage is not the invention of men, but was engineered by God. Only with the Man-Woman combination can children be born. Children don’t reach physical maturity until approx. 21 years old. By that time, the wife is usually past childbearing age and the husband is too tired to start raising another group of kids for another 21+ years!

4. So the pattern is clear: we’re meant to be 1 man/1 woman for a lifetime. That’s how God meant it to be.

II. SOURCE OF MARRIAGE PROBLEMS? HARD HEARTS!

A. WHAT IS A HARD HEART?

1. Charles Finney, in his article, “Hardness of Heart,” defined it: “Hardness of heart is a voluntary state of mind: the will is committed, for the time being, to some form of selfishness. When the heart is in this state, it is stubborn, and will not yield to the truth, and prevents the intelligence and sensibility from perceiving, and being duly impressed by the truth.”