"It was said, 'Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce;' but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."--Matthew 5:31-32. Here Jesus begins a section on what has been at the center of a lot of controversy among Christians. Here Jesus deals with the topic of divorce. We will deal with this in two parts. We will look at this passage in Matthew 5:31-32 and then tomorrow night we will briefly jump ahead in Matthew and look at Matthew 19:7-9 since both deal with the same topic.
Divorce. I come from a divorced family myself. My parents divorced when I was very young so it did not really phase me as much as it would children who were older when their parents split up. I got used to growing up in a single parent household. Furthermore, I know several people, young, old, and everywhere in between that come from families that have been torn apart by divorce.
Divorce of course is no foreign concept to us. It seems divorces are being granted at the same rate that pancakes are being sold at IHOP. It has been noted that the divorce rates are actually on the decline. Tonight we won't go into the reasons for that. However, tonight we will look at why people are divorcing and compare/contrast it against the Scriptures, namely what Jesus says here in Matthew 5:31-32 about divorce.
Divorce. So why are people divorcing? Well it seems divorces happen for any given reason these days. This too was the case in Jesus' day but it is after Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 24:1 that He says a key phrase in the Sermon on the Mount: "But I say to you..." so what does Jesus say about divorce?
Divorce. Looking at Matthew 5:31-32 and Matthew 19:9 which we will explore further in context tomorrow night, Jesus is saying that unchastity or adultery is the only reason for divorce. Unchastity comes from the Greek word porneia which has to do with any and all sexual sins including sex outside of marriage. This word may look familiar because it is the same term from where we get the word pornography. Just like today, in Jesus' day people could get divorced for any reason. Something as small as burnt toast could be grounds for divorce before Jesus says what He says.
Divorce. In today's culture we also hear of any number of reasons for divorce. Everything from 'irreconcilable differences' to 'It just wasn't working out.' As I have already mentioned, the issue of divorce has been and continues to be at the center of a lot of controversy among Christians. We will look further at this issue tomorrow night and bring this issue to a conclusion. Even though tomorrow night's blog will conclude the issue, there is still so much more to be said about the issue. What we looked at here and what we look at tomorrow night only scratch the surface.
I have no practical application for this specific issue tonight simply because this issue is just as much a reality for us today as it was then and I will deal with the practical side of this when we conclude tomorrow night. My encouragement for tonight is simply this. Whenever you are challenged with the issue of divorce or any other issue and someone says "Well I say...," remember that while people have their opinions, Jesus said "But I say to you..." A popular adage in years past was "WWJD?" or "What Would Jesus Do?" With the way our faith is challenged today with the issue of divorce and so many others, our mindset as Christians needs to be "WWJS?" or "What Would Jesus Say?" And what He would say can be found in the pages of the New Testament. So, in closing WWJS?
PRAY ABOUT IT! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!
No comments:
Post a Comment