Sermon Notes
West Side Church of Christ, Searcy, Arkansas
What God Has Joined Together
Steve W. Reeves, December 14, 2014 PM
INTRODUCTION:
A. These are tough times for marriage.
1. Beginning in the 1960’s into the 1990’s the divorce rate skyrocketed.
2. In recent years the rate has leveled off somewhat but one of the reasons for that is
that many people have chosen cohabitation as an alternative to marriage..
3. A report on CNN on April 4, 2013 states:
Between 2006 and 2010, 48% of women between the ages of 15 and 44 moved
in for the first time with a man to whom they weren't married, according to a
report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National
Center for Health Statistics. In 2002, it was 43%. In 1995, it was 34%.
That's 1 in 4 women living with a man by age 20 and almost 3 in 4 by 30,
according to the report, "First Premarital Cohabitation in the United States,"
which studied male-female relationships. Generations that were cohabitating less
are now being replaced by a group of women and men that find cohabitation to
be quite normal. (http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/04/living/women-premaritalcohabitation/index.html).
B. How do we define marriage?
1. We are all aware of attempts to redefine marriage. Marriage between homosexuals
is legal in 35 U.S. states. Man cannot redefine what God has defined.
2. The courts may say that two men or two women going through legal channels
are married but the courts are not the final authority. God is. You can call a squirrel
a duck as long as you want but it doesn’t make it a duck. You can call immorality
marriage from here to the end of time but it does not make it marriage in the eyes of
the one who established it in the beginning.
C. Does Jesus have anything to say to our society about marriage? Let’s go to Mark
10:1-12.
I. AN IMPORTANT QUESTION
A. Jesus and his disciples left Capernaum and traveled into Judea. Once again great
crowds of people followed Him.
1. Everywhere Jesus had been there were crowds. Most of the people in the
crowds were sincere and desired to learn from the amazing things that Jesus
taught. I have found that the vast majority of people who attend church are like
that. They are sincere and willing to learn.
2. It seems that there are always some who have other motives. Such was the case
in this instance with Jesus. Beginning in Chapter 2 when Jesus healed the
paralytic the Pharisees had been questioning Jesus. The more popular Jesus
became the more determined the Pharisees and Jewish leaders became in their
quest to discredit him.
3. In verse 2 Mark records that the Pharisees came to Him testing him with the
question, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
B. If there is any question that has always fueled debate it is the question of divorce.
That was true in Jesus’ time. It’s true in our time.
1. It would be difficult to find a family that has not been touched at some point by
divorce.
2. Several years ago, Paul Glick, Senior Demographer for the U.C. Census Bureau
said that one out of three women in our country has been would be divorced in
their lifetime.
3. According to Jennifer Baker of the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in
Springfield, Missouri, 50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of
third marriages end in divorce.
C. In Jesus’ time there two prominent schools of thought among the Jews with regard
to divorce. Both of these hinged on the interpretation of a passage found in
Deuteronomy 24:1 – “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him
because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of
divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house.” The law went on to say that if
a woman is put away by her husband and another man marries her and he divorces
her and sends her from his house her first husband cannot take her back for she
has been defiled and this is detestable in the sight of God.
1. A rabbi named Hillel had espoused a lenient view of divorce that said a man
could divorce his wife for any reason.
2. A rabbi named Shammai championed the view that divorce was only permitted in
cases of sexual infidelity.
3. What did the law of Moses mean when it referred to “something indecent?”
a. Hillel and the “easy divorce” view said if a man didn’t like something about his
wife such as her cooking or the way she raised the children he could put her
away.
b. Shammai and his supporters said that sexual infidelity had to be clearly
established before a divorce could take place.
D. This question still has relevance today. There are people who think that you can
divorce a person for any reason. They say if you get married and determine you are
incompatible get a divorce and try again. Others say, “No, it’s only when there has
been sexual unfaithfulness on the part of a spouse that you can be divorced.
II. JESUS’ ANSWER
A. How do you deal with such tough questions? I’ve been asked this question many
times. Sometimes people are very sincere. Other times I’ve had people ask that
question wanting to know if there was a loophole around what Jesus said.
1. The first time I interviewed for a preaching position I was 21 years old and had
been married for five months. The two elders asked, “What is your view of
marriage, divorce and remarriage?” I answered, “I believe what Jesus said.” That
was all they wanted to know and they hired me.
2. Thirty-four years later having read a lot about issues and hearing debates and
seeing how this question has affected people if I were asked that question I think
my answer would be – “I believe what Jesus said.”
B. What did Jesus say?
1. In verse 3 Jesus asked, “What did Moses say?” They replied that Moses
permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.
2. At this point Jesus does something very important. He went right to the heart of
the matter. The issue was not what constituted lawful or unlawful divorce. The
issue was the hardness of people’s hearts. Verse 5 – “It was because of the
hardness of your hearts that Moses wrote you this law.” In Matthew 19:8 Jesus
added, “from the beginning this was not so.”
3. Divorce was not a part of God’s plan for man. Jesus said in verses 6 – 9, “But at
the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ 7 ‘For this reason a
man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8 and the two will
become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what
God has joined together, let no one separate.”
C. Jesus was going back to God’s original plan for marriage. The plan that was set
forth in the garden of Eden before sin entered the world.
1. After creation God looked up everything and said it is very good.
2. One things was “not good.” It was not good for man to be alone. God created a
companion – a helper suitable for – her husband.
3. Genesis 2:23-24 – records the scene - “This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”
24 That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and
they become one flesh.”
4. There is no better place to define marriage than when it first began. The original
marriage was truly formed in paradise.
a. It began in purity and innocence before sin had entered the world.
b. It began in purpose. God saw man alone and created a woman as a
companion suitable for him.
c. It began with permanence as God said “leave father and mother and
cleave to your wife until death do they part.” This is why Jesus added, “What
God has joined together do not let man separate.”
C. The apostle Paul had some comments about marriage in answer to questions he
had received from the church in Corinth. Paul and Jesus do not contradict one
another. In 1 Cor. 7:10 Paul says, “To the married I give this command (not I, but
the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she
must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband
must not 8 divorce his wife.”
1. Once again this is God’s ideal.
2. This is His plan, His purpose and His desire for every couple who marries.
III. THE DIVINE EXCEPTION
A. You and I do not live in paradise. Beginning in Genesis 3 sin entered the world.
Adam and Eve lost their innocence. Not only did sin enter the world it entered
family life. Marriages would face struggles and sin. Children would face difficulties
and sin. Families would have to cope with jealousy and hatred.
B. Those facts do not alter God’s original intent for marriage with regard to it’s
purpose or permanence.
1. God realized that the presence of sin was real. People’s hearts were not always
what they should be. People do not always do the right thing.
2. Mark and Luke make contain no further record regarding Jesus’ comments on
this subject.
3. Matthew, a Gospel written to the Jews, records one thing further that the Jewish
people would have been interested in and that related directly to the question
asked by the Pharisees.
4. In Matthew 19:9 Jesus said, “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except
for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
a. The word translated “sexual immorality” or fornication is the word “porneia.”
b. Jesus recognized that when the sexual purity of a relationship has been
violated it is difficult to maintain the marriage bond. It is not impossible.
c. Jesus said, to divorce and remarry for any other reason is to commit adultery.
1.) I don’t know every single situation people face.
2.) There are some confusing situations I don’t have answers for.
3.) We never go wrong when we loving say, “this is what Jesus said.” He is the
judge, not me.
IV. WHAT ABOUT?
A. Any time we study the Bible we must ask the question, “How does this apply to
me?’ The teaching of Jesus about marriage has particular application to most of
us.
1. To those who are not yet married. Understand what God’s will is. Understand the
seriousness of the commitment you are entering into. Understand the need to be
selective in choosing your mate. Remember you are making a lifetime covenenat
between one another and God.
2. To those of us who are married. Keep your marriage healthy. Love you mate.
Honor the commitment you have made to one another.
3. To those who have been divorced – some remarried. God does not ever want
you to feel as if He does not love you. He does. As a Christian family we love
you. We want to do all we can to help everybody go to heaven. We want to
encourage everybody. We don’t want to discourage anybody.
CONCLUSION:
A. “Sooner or Later” – Anonymous
"Sooner or later we begin to understand
that love is more than verses on valentines,
and romance in the movies.
We begin to know that love is here and now, real and true,
the most important thing in our lives.
For love is the creator of our favorite memories
and the foundation of our fondest dreams.
Love is a promise that is always kept,
a fortune that can never be spent,
a seed that can flourish in even the most unlikely of places.
And this radiance that never fades,
this mysterious and magical joy, is the greatest treasure of all one known only by those who love."
B. God wants your marriage to be great. A great marriage is always founded on the
teachings of Jesus. If we can help you to follow Him will you come as we sing.