“WHAT DID JESUS SAY ABOUT MARRIAGE?” Matt. 19:1-12
INTRO – Annual life insurance policy notice – “Note: A change in marital status could necessitate a new beneficiary designation. Please contact your agent if your marital status has changed.”
I think we can safely say that the status of marriage in America has definitely changed – and NOT for the better!
- Our government has gotten involved in the society shifting decision to redefine marriage to legitimize & legalize same-sex marriage.
o Just this past wk, a district judge in PA struck down that state’s ban on gay marriage. Washington Post article: “Judicial victories for gay marriage are coming almost daily now.” Said the decision broke “new doctrinal ground” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/05/20/federal-judge-strikes-down-pennsylvania-ban-on-same-sex-marriage/).
- The ease of divorce – Did a Google search for “easy divorce” – 1st page had websites & ads that made these types of statements:
o “Easy online divorce – Doing your own divorce is easy”
o “Quickie divorce”
o “Completed divorce in 3 easy steps”
o “Do It Yourself Divorce Kits”
o “Divorce online is fast & easy”
o “$89 Divorce Pkg – Call now!”
- Reality TV has jumped on the polygamy bandwagon w/ shows like “Sister Wives” & “My Five Wives.” Fox News website had this to say about “My Five Wives”: “Their show begins airing in a social and political climate that has softened significantly toward plural families in recent years.”
- Cohabitation/Living together – This trend is growing more & more all the time. Unmarried couples living together in unprecedented numbers now. One report I read said that 2/3 of new marriages in the US start in cohabitation. It’s the new normal for most marriages in our society today.
o Rachel’s conversation w/ nurses at work.
So, as we’ve noted, it’s pretty obvious to even the most casual observer that the status of marriage in our society today is changing, & not for the better. When we consider the status of marriage in our society today, it has some interesting effects on us as Christ-followers:
- Fires us up – Makes us mad as we see more & more opposition to the truth of God’s Word. Sometimes it’s hard to remember Eph. 6:12 – “We are not fighting against humans. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness and powers in the spiritual world” (GNT).
- Freaks us out – Just can’t believe that we are seeing these things happen in our society. And can’t believe how rapidly things are changing.
- Frightens us for the future – Can’t help but wonder what kind of long-term effects these changes are going to have on our kids, grandkids, our communities, the church, our laws as a nation, & other areas of our lives.
But, as our sermon title reminds us, we need to discover what Jesus said about marriage & base our lives around these unchanging truths, no matter what our world says about marriage:
THE PERFECT MARITAL STATUS: There were always people around who were maliciously trying to trip Jesus up, trying to trick Him or ensnare Him w/ a question that would cause Him to incriminate Himself or contradict Himself. There are plenty of people out there today who are doing the same thing, especially in the marriage arena. All you’ve got to do to see that is read some of the comments made in response to news articles about marriage.
But when Jesus answered them, He didn’t go back to the Mosaic Laws in Deut. He went all the way back to the Garden of Eden to make these tremendously strong points that we MUST remember & always stand on.
Created by God’s design – v. 4 – Jesus’ immediate response to the Pharisees showed that they should have known the truth – “Haven’t you read…” They knew the foundation for marriage was the design of God. It also revealed their underhanded motives for even asking this question.
Jesus made it abundantly clear that marriage was & is God’s idea. It was His creation. Therefore, its status is not up for debate or alteration. God created man & He created woman. And His design for marriage is that it is always only to be a relationship of 1 man & 1 woman for life.
Last year, the Supreme Courts said that essentially the only reason anyone could have for defining marriage the way every human civilization has for millennia is hostility toward gay and lesbian persons (http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/04/15/same-sex-marriage-and-the-future/). They are completely wrong. The only reason we define marriage as only between 1 man & 1 woman for life is b/c this is how God Almighty has defined it since the beginning of time! It is foundational in HIS perfect marriage status!
Completed in God’s plan – v. 5 – Jesus went on & made THE most profound statement in the Bible regarding God’s perfect marriage status. It is so clear that the fulfillment of His plan for marriage is that a MAN & a WOMAN unite themselves to each other & only each other. This uniting together has 3 different facets:
- The family facet – The breaking of the immediate ties w/ parents shows that the husband/wife relationship now becomes the ultimate priority as far as earthly relationships are concerned. To “leave … and be united” means to transfer one’s fundamental allegiance from parents to spouse.
- The physical facet – The beauty of sexual intimacy in the marriage relationship & ONLY in the marriage relationship is so awesome! Unfortunately, nearly EVERY show on TV, nearly EVERY movie at the theaters, nearly EVERY song on secular radio, & nearly EVERY person you will encounter today will completely disagree w/ this truth.
- The spiritual facet – Uniting your body to another person’s body is so much more than a physical act. For every other creature, that’s all it is. But for God’s crowning creation – man & woman – the act of sexual intimacy is the ultimate spiritual union as well. It melds you together w/ that person for the rest of your life. At the risk of being too crude & crass, two dogs can have a physical encounter & nothing about them changes. But when you have an intimate physical encounter w/ another person, you & that person change in the most significant way. You become “one flesh” w/ that person. This is why Paul said in 1 Cor. 6:15-16, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”
Cemented for God’s glory – v. 6 – Which leads to this final piece of God’s perfect marital status, & that is that the husband & wife are cemented together forever for the glory of God. If GOD has joined a man & woman together as husband & wife, then HE is the one who cements that relationship.
- That means He promises HIS power to make it through the toughest of times of your marriage.
- …He promises HIS provisions to meet every need that you have in your marriage.
- …He promises HIS precepts to guide you in every decision you will have to make throughout your marriage.
“Christians would do well to understand that their marriage is not so much about them as it is about God. Such revolutionary thinking is not very American, but it is very biblical. Marriage should reflect God’s image, not guarantee our personal ‘happiness.’ The permanent marriage bond is in keeping with God’s original design for men and women.”
Bottom line is that a marriage done God’s way, according to God’s plan, for God’s glory, is a marriage that works! God’s perfect marriage status works!
But unfortunately, we live in a fallen world & man has a way of really messing up a good thing, which we have done w/ marriage. So, not only do we see the perfect marital status, we also see:
THE PERVERSION OF THE MARITAL STATUS: I don’t want to spend a lot of time on the negative stuff, but I do want to hit 3 highlights b/c Jesus hit these highlights, & if we truly want to see what Jesus said about marriage, then we need to see these truths, too:
Hard hearts – v. 8a – God never intended for marriages to end in divorce. The provisions that were made for divorce in the Mosaic Law were temporary & were ONLY there b/c the people had gotten so hard-hearted to the things of God.
Hard truth – v. 8b – “But it was not this way from the beginning” – The hard truth that Jesus is driving home here is that God’s clear intention is that there be no divorce at all. Mal. 2:16 tells us that it is something He hates. Divorce was not God’s way from the beginning.
But, praise God, there is grace, forgiveness, & restoration given to those who are repentant.
Hard realities – v. 9 – When we dig into the Scriptures in this area, we find that there are only 2 biblical reasons given for divorce – marital unfaithfulness as Jesus said here, & abandonment by an unbelieving spouse, as Paul indicated in 1 Cor. 7:15. Jesus was making it clear that, in their easy divorce climate in which some Pharisees taught that you could divorce your wife if she wasn’t a good cook, God says NO. And in our easy divorce climate today, God says NO!
CONCLUSION – Let’s jump back to the beginning of this passage. Look at v. 2 – “Large crowds followed Him, & He healed them there.” – Aren’t you thankful that Jesus is in the healing business? The good news today is that, no matter what the status of your marriage is right now, Jesus can heal it if you will come to Him. To take it one step closer – No matter what the status of your own heart today, Jesus can heal it if you will come to Him. We need Jesus to heal us! We need Him to heal our marriages! We need Him to heal our hard hearts! We need Him to heal our broken hearts! We need Him to heal our weary hearts! We need Him to heal our anxious, frightened hearts! We need Him to heal our judgmental hearts! We need Jesus to heal us today! And He will, if we will come to Him in brokenness & repentance today!
