Monday, September 5, 2011

What Jesus Said about Being Good Enough - Anger, Lust, Marriage, Divorce, Part 26 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: The "exceptions" to Jesus' declarations may not be exceptions at all.

PURPOSE: To help listeners think about the "exceptions" to Jesus' teaching on marriage and divorce.

What do we mean when as Christians we talk about "ethical issues"? What are some that we deal with?

I. There are at least three ways to approach ethical problems.

We identify the "ideals" which should govern our decisions. We can't start with "exceptions" until we establish the "norm."

The "pastoral" should govern the way we interact with people who have fallen short of the ideal. We live in a sinful world with sinful people.

The "governmental" which governs how we address political issues that deal with ethical issues.

II. Christians have an "ideal" toward which we must work when we think about marriage and divorce.  

Several passages of Scripture speak about the ideal: Genesis 2:24; Malachi 2:15, 16; Mark 10:4, 12; Luke 16:18.

What is the ideal? It is one man with one woman for life.

Do you agree that Christians should always try to work toward that ideal?

III. Christians also have a pastoral approach as we deal with the realities of sin in us and in the world.

Moses allowed divorce because of "the hardness of your hearts" (Deuteronomy 24:1, Matthew 19:1-9).

Ideally, Jesus' teaching rendered Deuteronomy 24:1 obsolete and rescued it from a use for which it was not intended. It wasn't given to make divorce easy or to make the creation declaration about marriage obsolete.

Divorce laws may be necessary because of people's "hardness of heart."