The first in a series of 4 sermons
Series Theme
Marriage is an incredibly powerful picture used by God to described in His Word the relationship of Christ to His bride, the Church. Indeed, it is from that relation of Christ to the Church, we learn much as to how a man and wife ought to live with each other today.
That may be nice to know, but how today can we live in relationships that truly reflect Christ’s relationship to His bride? The answer lies in the power out of which we live as couples in Christ. Not a worldly power, but that of the grace of God at work in us through His Holy Spirit.
Readings reproduced on this page:
The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1996, 1984. Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Readings
Deuteronomy 24:1–14 (NIV84)
1If 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,
2and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man,
3and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies,
4then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the Lord. Do not bring sin upon the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
5If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married.
6Do not take a pair of millstones—not even the upper one—as security for a debt, because that would be taking a man’s livelihood as security.
7If a man is caught kidnapping one of his brother Israelites and treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from among you.
8In cases of leprous diseases be very careful to do exactly as the priests, who are Levites, instruct you. You must follow carefully what I have commanded them.
9Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way after you came out of Egypt.
10When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not go into his house to get what he is offering as a pledge.
11Stay outside and let the man to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you.
12If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession.
13Return his cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the Lord your God.
14Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns.
Text
Matthew 19:1–12 (NIV84)
1When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan.
2Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
4“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’
5and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
6So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”
7“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
8Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning.
9I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
10The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry.”
11Jesus replied, “Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given.
12For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it.”
