In the providence of God my Matthew series was just about ready to land on Matthew 19, the text that speaks of divorce. I chose to use Pat Robertson’s news splash as an introduction to my exposition of Jesus’ conversation with the Pharisees on this very topic: Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for, say, alzheimer’s? I preached it yesterday.
I tried to frame our thinking of it within the framework that was an actual reality for the Pharisees and disciples: they were talking with the King of kings and Lord of lords about the matter! I think there are four results consequently:
- Humble discussion with the King on any topic tunes our hearts to love His purposes.
- Humble discussion with the King on any topic prevents our minds from finding refuge in wrong thinking.
- Humble discussion with the King on any topic convicts us of the error of our ways.
- Humble discussion with the King on any topic empowers us to receive His word on the matter because He gives grace to the humble.
Thus, in Matthew 19:1-12 I think there are four obvious points from King Jesus on the topic of divorce that can be discerned without haggling over etymology and various views of divorce. The Gospel-preaching King makes the following obvious:
- The Gospel of the King tunes our hearts to desire and love the original intent of the Creator for His creation. In this case, marriage.
- The Gospel of the King prevents us from proof-texting with Scripture or circumstantiating exceptions in order to justify our selfish desires.
- The Gospel of the King convicts us of the exceeding sinfulness of sexual immorality (and, thus, in my my mind, one reason why the exception clause is there).
- The Gospel of the King empowers His disciples to embrace the hard calling of marriage or celibacy with devotion and purity for the sake of the Kingdom.
You can hear the message here and download the notes as well.
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