Reading: Matthew chapter 5 verses 27-32.
ill:
• When men were manning the barricades in Moscow in 1917,
• And preparing to fire the first shots of a world revolution,
Church dignities were holding a meeting in the same city,
• For the specific purpose of deciding;
• What colour of robes were to be worn at a certain ecclesiastical festival.
I think it is a tragedy when church leaders or a church are no longer relevant to society:
• Christians ought to be light & salt in a society,
• Not outdated, or out of touch with the events of their times.
• In other words we should have something suitable to say, something worth listening to
• Of course not all preachers are relevant!
Quote:
Church member to their minister:
“You will never know what your sermon meant to me. It was like water to a drowning man!”
Quote:
“He was like a lighthouse in the middle of the Pennines: brilliant, but what’s it there for?”
Praise God for organisations like The Evangelical Alliance:
• Who give Christians a voice in the media and are a voice to our politicians,
• A voice that is both relevant and biblical.
One of the great things about Jesus:
• Was that he was always relevant to the people of his day,
• And he is still relevant today! His teaching is still bang up to date.
• And this passage before us deals with a very relevant topic,
• Topics that affect the lives of so many people.
Quote:
• More than 85 per cent of adults marry at some time in their lives;
• And those people obviously marry, with the hope that their marriages will last.
• In a recent survey almost nine out of ten of those interviewed said;
• ‘That they valued faithfulness as the most important ingredient in marriage’.
• Although fewer people are getting married in the UK:
• Marriage still remains popular,
• As I mentioned 85% of adults will marry at some time in their lives.
• But sadly in Britain the latest estimates are;
• That over 50 per cent of all marriages will end in divorce.
• Half of the divorces come from marriages which lasted less than ten years.
• The most common cause of divorce is adultery.
An increasing proportion of marriages are remarriages.
• Over a third (36 per cent) of all marriages;
• Involve at least one partner who has been married before,
• And in 17 per cent of weddings,
• Both the bride and groom have been married before.
Sadly, a higher proportion of second marriages end in divorce.
• Current trends suggest;
• One in two marriages involving a partner married before ends in divorce.
Now I have not given you those statistics to depress you:
• But to illustrate the fact that our topic this morning is where many people are at.
• And this passage before us deals with very relevant topics,
• Personal purity, marital fidelity and issues of divorce.
• Topics that affect the lives of so many people in our society.
Some preachers avoid awkward and controversial topics:
• They play safe, that’s the easy option.
• But not Jesus!
• With a beautiful blend of courage, wisdom, sensitivity and simplicity,
• He spoke the truth as and when it was needed.
Now in the passage before us Jesus makes a clear statement concerning two absolutes:
(1) Marital faithfulness (verses 27-28):
(a). The seventh Commandment (Verse 27):
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’
Jesus begins by quoting the seventh commandment,
• Which everyone in His audience would have known extremely well.
• From childhood, all Jewish citizens had had the commandments drilled into their heads.
• No adultery!
• Do not have sexual intercourse with anyone else other than your spouse.
• But notice that Jesus goes further.
• And Jewish ears all over that hillside must have perked up when He added,
(b). New revelation (Verse 28):
28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Question:
• Why did Jesus go further than Moses? What more needed to be said?
• Surely “Do not commit adultery” was clear enough?
Answer:
• More did need to be said,
• IF you are going to go to the heart of the problem,
• Jesus never promoted a surface-only religious lifestyle,
• Jesus does not want people who are outwardly obedient but inwardly disobedient.
Ill:
• Before seat belts were compulsory,
• A naughty little boy stood up on the back seat of his parents car;
• His parents repeatedly told him to sit down.
• But the little boy ignored them.
• Eventually the parents lost patience;
• They stopped the car and the little boy was smacked and told off about his behaviour.
• As the car pulled away the little boy was heard to say these words;
• “I may be sitting down in my body, but in my mind I’m standing up!”
Now that is the kind of religion Jesus does not want:
• Jesus does not want people who are outwardly obedient but inwardly disobedient.
• He does not want those who keep the letter of the law but ignore the spirit of the law.
• He wants followers who are authentic, true godly in their living.
The key point Jesus is making is this:
• Long before adultery takes place in the bed,
• It has already been visualized in the head.
Quote: The late Malcolm Muggeridge who said,
‘I’ve got sex on the brain and it’s the worst place to have it!’
The challenge to us all this morning:
• Young or old, married or single, male or female;
• Is to exercise holiness and purity in our thought life.
• Not just to live lives that please God,
• But to have a heart and mind that also pleases God.
Quote: Psalm 51 verse 6:
“Surely you desire truth in the inner parts,
you can teach me wisdom in the inner place”.
Being pure, holy is not an easy thing to do:
• Especially because we live in a world that is preoccupied with sex:
• Not preoccupied with love, with caring, with relationships; but with sex!
ill:
• Sex is used to sell cars, holidays, clothes, perfume, coffee and even toothpaste.
• It is the main refrain of nearly all popular music.
• Pop songs focus on man/woman relations;
• Usually in terms of satisfying sexual, physical desires, infidelity, and the like.
• It is the subject of many films, plays and best-selling books.
• It is not commitment that we are sold by the media;
• It is purely and simply-pleasure.
• Feelings are what rule. ‘If it feels good, do it’, and that is the only rule.
Ill:
• The whole preoccupation with sex isn’t just a characteristic of our generation;
• All peoples of all times have had an obsession with sex.
• A glance at Greek culture, Indian art or even Shakespeare’s plays shows this.
• And it was obviously an issue for the people of Israel over 2,000 years ago.
• And the relevant teaching Jesus gave to them on that occasion,
• Is still relevant teaching for us today.
Verse 28: Therefore, Jesus added,
“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Those words are familiar to us today:
• But back in New testament days these words were revolutionary.
• Absolutely and shockingly revolutionary.
• By going right to the heart of the issue,
• Jesus’ simple instructions removed the grey areas related to adultery.
• He introduced an unheard-of equation:
• Unbridled lust equals adultery.
Ill:
• Some Christians in church history have taken the subsequent words of Jesus,
• About tearing out an eye or cutting off a hand literally.
• With great zeal & with little wisdom,
• Some Christians they have followed Jesus’ words to the letter.
• One of the great scholars of the early church - Origen of Alexandria (185-254 A.D.)
• Actually made himself a eunuch.
Many others did the same:
• So much so that in A.D. 325 at the Council of Nicea, had to pass a law saying:
• Self-mutilation was declared a barbarous practice and officially forbidden.
But Jesus said of the eye that makes us stumble, “tear it out.”
• Should we take Him literally?
• I suggest not, otherwise, most of us would be blind and limbless!
(c). remove the obstacle (verse 29-30):
Look again at what our Lord actually said in verse 28:
“Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart”.
• Jesus is not speaking of simply looking at another person,
• And admiring them or even feeling a physical attraction.
• The words of Jesus go beyond that, they refer to looking and lusting,
• An over emphasises, taking something good and wholesome and corrupting it.
Ill: ill:
Food – greed & gluttony. Alcohol – drunkenness.
An over emphasises, taking something good and wholesome and corrupting it:
• The look is not a casual glance, or an appreciative look,
• But rather it is a constant stare,
• And as you stare at their physical appearance.
• You are undressing a man or woman in your mind, and even fantasying about them.
By saying no to such things:
• The eye and the hand are usually the two culprits when it comes to sexual sins,
• So they are the two things emphasised.
• By refusing to have sexual thoughts in your mind.
• I believe you are “tearing out your eye” and you are “cut off your hand.”
• You are not allowing them to lead you in a wrong direction,
• You are removing the problem.
The principle Jesus is giving us in this verse is:
• Deal immediately and decisively with sin
• We must not pamper sin, we must not flirt with it.
• We must not enjoy nibbling a little of it around the edges.
• We are to take drastic and immediate action regarding sin.
• Spiritual surgery of the heart & mind is what is required,
• Not physical surgery of the body.
Ill:
• On the Caribbean island of Barbados,
• Is a castle that once belonged to the pirate called Sam Lord.
• Sam Lord was a very cunning and crafty pirate, because he did not use a ship,
• Instead he used to hang lots of lanterns in the palm trees in front of his castle.
• Then when a ship having crossed the Atlantic, saw Barbados and saw those lights.
• It used to think that it had arrived at the port of Bridgetown,
• And it would turn into those lights,
• Thinking that that was where all the other boats were anchored.
• Unknowingly it would turn into the coral reef and be wrecked,
• That is exactly what Sam Lord wanted to happen, because he was a pirate
• His men could then row out to the wreck,
• Take prisoners or kill any survivors and steal all the goods and treasure.
Those alluring lights:
• Offered the sailors so much, but it gave them nothing,
• It promised them freedom, enjoyment, & a good time, but it shipwrecked (destroyed) them.
Quote: Charles Finney
“Keep short accounts with God”.
One of the simplest and best ways I have found to obey Jesus’ instruction;
• Is to occupy the mind with things that are right, healthy, and positive,
• Rather than lurid, provocative, and questionable.
Ill:
• In many ways we are a result of what we feed on.
• Physically: Diet of chips & burgers or healthy food.
• Spiritually: What we feed our hearts and minds on,
• Will determine whether we are spiritually healthy or not.
The second absolute is:
(2). Issue of Divorce
• When Jesus spoke of divorce,
• He was talking about a very controversial topic:
• He addressed a hot issue that was often debated among religious leaders in His day.
• Two contradictory positions were taught in rival rabbinic schools.
(First): Rabbi Shammai:
He would be described a s the conservative:
• He took a rigorous approach regarding divorce.
• He founded his teaching on Deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 1,
• Which he felt allowed divorce
• Only on the basis of some grave matrimonial offence or indecent act of unchastity.
• This austere position;
• Grew out of Shammai’s extremely strict interpretation of Scripture.
(second):.Rabbi Hillel.
He would be described as a liberal:
• He adopted a much more lax position.
• Josephus, a well-known Jewish historian, states that Hillel;
• Applied the Mosaic provision to a man who
• “Desires to be divorced from his wife for any cause whatsoever.”
We are not just talking liberal here but super-liberal!
• And sadly, for the most insignificant and most pathetic reasons imaginable,
• A man could divorce his wife with the rabbi’s blessing,
Ill:
• If she spoiled his dinner by adding too much salt,
• If she were seen in public with her head uncovered,
• If she talked with other men on the street,
• If she spoke disrespectfully to her husband’s parents,
• If she became plain-looking compared with another woman;
• Who seemed more beautiful in her husband’s opinion.
Notice: The reference on the OHP to Matthew’s gospel chapter 19 verse 3:
• Some Pharisees put Jesus to the test;
• By pressing Him on His position regarding divorce:
3Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
What the Pharisees wanted to find out was:
• Which rabbinical school of thought Jesus sided with;
• “In which camp are you, Jesus, Shammai’s or Hillel’s?”
• Jesus answer revealed that He was in neither camp.
• In fact, His whole line of reasoning differed from theirs.
As you examine Jesus’ teaching:
• Both in Matthew chapter 19 and here in His sermon on the mountain,
• You find three contrasts between His position and the Pharisees’ position:
(1). Wrong Focus.
• The Pharisees were preoccupied with grounds for divorce,
• But Jesus was much more concerned with the institution of marriage.
• They wanted to know how to get free from the marriage commitment,
• While Jesus emphasized the sanctity and permanence of the partnership.
(2). Wrong understanding/judgement.
• The Pharisees called Moses’ provision a command,
• While Jesus considered it a concession.
This is not nitpicking at words:
• The former calls for obedience;
• And seems to justify their desire for divorce.
• The latter holds much tighter reins on the issue,
• Making divorce a reluctant and hesitant act of regrettable compromise.
(3). Wrong standards.
• The Pharisees regarded divorce lightly.
• Jesus always viewed it seriously.
• They were forever on a search for reasons to claim a marriage could end,
• While Jesus resisted such an attitude.
• Whenever questioned on marriage or divorce,
• He stood steadfastly by the ideal of how it was in the beginning.
(4), Wrong practice (Verse 31-32):
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.
Jesus begins by quoting the words Moses’ penned:
• Centuries earlier in the ancient book of Deuteronomy chapter 24 verses 1-4
• Originally, when “a certificate of divorce” was first used:
• It came as a concession because of the hardness of the Hebrew peoples hearts.
• It was not commanded; it was permitted, reluctantly and rarely.
Gods view of marriage and divorce is quite clear in the Bible:
(a).
• From God’s perspective marriage between a man and woman was to be for life,
• e.g. Matthew chapter 19 verses 4-6:
4“Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’ 5And he said, ‘this explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ 6Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together.”
(b).
• From God’s perspective divorce between husband and wife was to be avoided,
• e.g. Malachi chapter 2 verse 16: God clearly states; “I hate divorce”.
Now as a preacher and leader in a local church:
• I would never actively encourage anyone to get a divorce,
• I would try everything possible to encourage reconciliation and keep the marriage alive.
• Although if a couple felt they had to divorce:
• As a Christian leader along with my congregation,
• I hope we would want to pray for them, and give them our support and love,
• And not be judgemental.
Now remember the background of these verses at the time of Jesus:
• Jewish men were divorcing their wives for trivial and pathetic reasons,
• Their attitude and behaviour was a gross travesty of what God had intended for marriage.
• Jesus spoke out against this scandalous behaviour,
• And said divorce is wrong!
• But he did make an exception in verse 32.
• And we will look at that in a minute.
Note: God would not except as a good reason for divorce the fact that a Jewish wife had;
• Spoiled her husbands dinner by adding too much salt,
• Or the fact she was seen in public with her head uncovered,
• Or the fact she spoke disrespectfully to her husband’s parents,
• Or that she lost her good looks.
Therefore both parties were still married in the eyes of God,
• And if they remarried someone else they committed adultery!
• I think that is what verse 32 is saying.
Verse 32: There is an exception clause:
“But 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”.
• In Jesus’ statement the exception clause says;
• “Except for marital unfaithfulness,”
• Remember throughout the sermon on the mount;
• Simplicity, is Jesus’ style, so I take it to mean what it says:
“That divorce may occur when there is sexual intimacy by a married partner with someone outside the marriage bond and it continues to occur as a habit or as a lifestyle.”
Question: Why is divorce permitted in this case?
Answer:
• Because sexual activity with another person,
• Will clearly destroy the bond of trust, which is the foundation of a marriage.
But note:
• An unfaithful mate may give you the right to seek divorce,
• But remember you are not obligated to exercise that right.
Ill:
• The laws of our land give us the right to sue whomever we wish,
• But most of us live our entire lives and never sue anyone.
• Instead, at times we swallow hard, take it on the chin,
• And occasionally live with mistreatment.
• Why? Because taking someone to court,
• Like divorcing an unfaithful mate, is not an obligation, but a concession.
Other words should be used before the word divorce appears:
• Words like repentance, forgiveness, reconciliation.
• The Biblical way is to try to restore the marriage and not end it!
But if things are irreconcilable:
• Remember God may hate divorce,
• But he loves divorced people.
• And he does not write anybody off,
• But offers to all people forgiveness from the past & the opportunity to start again.
And to those of us who are married:
• And would never contemplate a divorce,
• Remember we are dealing with attitudes of the heart.
• Divorce is not a piece of paper that says; “You two are separated”.
• It is a heart attitude that keeps a partner at arms length.
• The challenge this week is to draw closer to your God-given partner,
• Not to avoid or keep your partner at arms length.
Quote:
“Marriage is more than finding the right person; it is being the right person”
• Marriage is God’s idea,
• For best results follow the makers instructions!
