Friday, September 2, 2011
What Jesus Said about Being Good Enough - Anger, Lust, Marriage, Divorce, Part 25 of 34
TEXT: "Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery" (Matthew 5:31-32).
IDEA: There are many questions of application of what Jesus said about divorce.
PURPOSE: To help listeners wrestle with what Jesus said about divorce and remarriage.
Would you agree that many of the problems we face in bowing to what the Scriptures teach is not necessarily in knowing the principle taught, but in its application?
What are some questions we have about what Jesus said about divorce in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:27-32)?
I. Is divorce the major subject Jesus is talking about in this section of the sermon?
Look at the context in which what Jesus said about divorce appears: Matthew 5:27-32.
He is talking primarily about adultery, not divorce.
Jesus says that adultery takes place (1) when there is lust and (2) when there is an illegitimate divorce.
Why do you think that much more emphasis is placed on divorce than on lust when Jesus declared that both lead to what he called "adultery"?
Both work against God's ideal for marriage given in Genesis 2:23-24.
Why is that passage important? What does it teach?
From the beginning of creation of human beings, it was God's plan that one man and one woman should form a permanent union.
What is the significance in the declaration that "the two become one flesh"?
Divorce is more like an amputation than a "break-up" of a business partnership. No surgeon performs an amputation of an arm except as a last resort.
As painful as divorce is, is it somehow worse than the others things Jesus condemns in this sermon?
II. Why did Moses say that if a man got a divorce, he had to give his wife a "certificate of divorce" (Matthew 19:7)?
Was Moses wrong to allow that to happen? Why do you think he did it (Matthew 19:8)?
Do you think that "hardness of heart" has stopped, now that Jesus has come?
