I'm struggling as I prepare for Sunday...I don't really want to preach the sermon I'm preparing. Yet I feel compelled to do so. I've been preaching a sermon series entitled "Hot Potatoes" in which I'm bringing a biblical perspective to some of the more controversial issues Christians face. I've preached "Should a Christian Use Alcohol or Drugs," "What's the Harm in Gambling," and "The Christian Guide to Sex" thus far. This weekend I'm preaching on the divisive issue of divorce.
Maybe you heard about the billboard that went up in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood this spring that read “Life's short. Get a divorce.” On either side of the words were sexually-charged images of a man and a woman. The advertisement for the law firm Fetman, Garland & Associates targeted the young, wealthy, married couples who populate and frequent that area.
The flippancy with which such a billboard could be erected is symptomatic of much larger problems in our nation. The sanctity of marriage is under attack from every direction. I know that I'm going to be misunderstood and misrepresented as I seek to address this hot topic from a Scriptural viewpoint, but I think people may well be surprised at what the Bible actually says about divorce.
Maybe you heard about the billboard that went up in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood this spring that read “Life's short. Get a divorce.” On either side of the words were sexually-charged images of a man and a woman. The advertisement for the law firm Fetman, Garland & Associates targeted the young, wealthy, married couples who populate and frequent that area.
The flippancy with which such a billboard could be erected is symptomatic of much larger problems in our nation. The sanctity of marriage is under attack from every direction. I know that I'm going to be misunderstood and misrepresented as I seek to address this hot topic from a Scriptural viewpoint, but I think people may well be surprised at what the Bible actually says about divorce.
Malachi 2:16 (NASB)
"For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the LORD of hosts. "So take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously."
Matthew 5:31-32 (NASB)
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.
Luke 16:18 (NASB)
Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
When most Christians read verses like these (especially Jesus' words on the subject), they're reading them as if they're legal codes on divorce and adultery. In otherwords, Christians often prooftext such verses to "prove" their divorces have God's blessing.
I think they're missing the point of Jesus' words. They're reading them in order to find the loopholes allowing divorce (as if marriage were some kind of contract) instead of hearing Jesus' emphasis upon the principle of marriage, namely that God intends it to be a lifetime commitment and covenant.
My goal for Sunday is to lift high the wonderful gift of marriage and its sanctity, not to beat up anybody who's been divorced. In fact, I can't think of any Christian who can legitimately recommend divorce as smooth-sailing and pain-free. Divorced individuals usually bear the most effective testimonies of the pain and devastation of divorce. So with all this being said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
I think they're missing the point of Jesus' words. They're reading them in order to find the loopholes allowing divorce (as if marriage were some kind of contract) instead of hearing Jesus' emphasis upon the principle of marriage, namely that God intends it to be a lifetime commitment and covenant.
My goal for Sunday is to lift high the wonderful gift of marriage and its sanctity, not to beat up anybody who's been divorced. In fact, I can't think of any Christian who can legitimately recommend divorce as smooth-sailing and pain-free. Divorced individuals usually bear the most effective testimonies of the pain and devastation of divorce. So with all this being said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
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