Holy Matrimony was instituted and blessed by God. It’s his invention, his creation. In marriage, therefore, it is God who joins
together man and woman in a one-flesh union meant to last a lifetime. And it’s a very good thing!
Marriage is full of blessings. It provides companionship so that we are not
alone in this life. It affords help –
one to another – through the difficulties that are sure to come. Marriage is also the cradle into which
children are to be born and raised – and taught the fear and love of the
Lord. Even secular studies have shown us
that it is in a home with a mom and a dad that children are best poised to
thrive. It’s God’s design, after all.
Marriage is also meant for the delight of man and woman in
each other. That love that is shared and
grows year over year – that’s not an accident either.
As much as we joke about the drudgeries of marriage – the
old ball and chain and such – perhaps we ought to think again and treat this
institution of God’s as the holy thing he has made it to be. We honor God when
we honor marriage.
But like all of his gifts, we find ways to ruin it. And if we had to discuss the difficult
teaching of hell last week, then we better not shy away from the difficult
teaching of divorce today.
What did Moses tell you?
Jesus answers their question on divorce with a question. Which they, of course, get wrong. They blather on about some certificate of
divorce, an accommodation to human sin that Moses conceded in order to protect
poor women who were victims of their husband’s abandonment.
But what did Moses tell them? “You shall not commit adultery!” The sixth commandment! Moses told you what Moses hear from God. That’s the foundational answer. That’s the answer to the question of divorce.
Back to basics.
And Jesus goes back even before Moses, back to creation,
back to the very beginning, when God made them male and female. When he instituted marriage – when he made a
suitable helper because it was not good that man should be alone. (And by the way, another reason the doctrine
of creation is important – it is the foundation on which marriage rests!)
In the beginning, before sin entered into the world, there
was marriage. But like everything else
corrupted and tainted by sin, even marriage, the very heart of the family, the
foundation and building block of human society, is now tarnished and stained
and broken. And sometimes, in this
fallen world, marriages fail.
But they don’t fail because of some accident of nature, like
a tree falls and randomly crushes a car during a storm. Marriages fail because husbands and wives are
sinners. Sinners make messes of
everything. No married person can
honestly say they have loved their spouse as they should.
And if you, personally, have not been divorced, consider
your attitude toward marriage and divorce.
Do you take it lightly? Have you become
numb to the great evil divorce is? Do
you hear of divorces and simply shrug, “oh well, life goes on” with no more
concern than if someone stubbed a toe?
People grow apart. Life’s twists
and turns. Or how did one famous couple
put it when they announced their split, “we no longer believe we can grow
together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.”
Our attitudes toward this holy thing of God are part of the problem,
friends. While you may not have hired
the divorce attorney, you may just as well be contributing to the culture of
divorce by your own sins of thought, word and deed. Sins of commission and omission. Whatever your posture, God’s mind is clear on
the matter. In Malachi 2, God puts it
simply, “I hate divorce”. There aren’t
many things he speaks about in such strong terms as this.
And then for you who have been divorced, have experienced a
divorce – I’m sure this hasn’t been a pleasant sermon to sit through so
far. I’m sure it would be more
comfortable to hear about some other sin – any sin. Maybe, humanly speaking, you were the victim
of your ex’s infidelity, abuse, or abandonment.
Maybe you tried your hardest and it still failed, and yet you might
still feel guilty about it. Or maybe you
were the guilty party in every way, and made a mess of marriage that you cannot
go back and fix now even if you wanted to.
The truth is often somewhere in between.
Nonetheless, Christians have but one thing to do when faced
with our sin – whether the sin of divorce or the sin of contributing to a
culture that despises marriage. Whether
failing to love our spouse as well as we ought, or dishonoring marriage by our
fornication, adultery or lust. The
answer is the same: repent. Turn from sin. And turn to Christ in faith.
Christ, who comes to join together what man has put
asunder. Christ, who comes to heal and
reconcile the great divorce between God and man. Christ, who alone can restore, renew, and
revive, who can clean your conscience and balm your guilt.
Jesus dealt with people who had made a mess of marriage,
too. Remember that Samaritan woman at
the well? He called her out on her
adulterous living, and yet he still spoke kindly to her and revealed his
identity to her as the Christ and called her to worship in spirit and
truth. Remember the other woman, the one
caught in adultery? They were trying to
stone her to death, and Jesus pointed those accusations back on the crowd, “let
him who is without sin cast the first stone”.
And then he said, “Who condemns you now?
Then neither do I condemn you.
Now go and sin no more”.
The same Christ deals with us. He doesn’t wink at our sin, nor does he want
us to pretend it’s not there. He calls
us, rather, to bring that sin to him in contrition, and confession, and
faith. And he forgives. He doesn’t cast stones at us, his people, for
our sin, or condemn us as we deserve. He
speaks kindly, and calls us to worship in spirit and truth. And then he sends us to go and sin no more.
Christ knows of marriage not only because he founded it with
the creation of Eve. He also knows it as
he himself is the true bridegroom. And
he has come to court and win his holy bride, the new Eve, the church. With his own blood he bought her, and for her
life, he died. No look at Christian
marriage is complete without this major biblical picture – of Christ and his
bride, the church. One might even say that
all earthly marriages also point to this heavenly reality – this eternal love
story. Though even the happiest
marriages on earth are tainted by sin, the heavenly marriage of Christ and his
bride is pure and true and holy. Though
earthly marriages end in divorce, or when death do us part – there will be no
end to the marriage feast of the Lamb in his kingdom which has no end.
And now let’s visit the second part of this text, which
deals with children. It’s likely no
accident that Mark places Jesus’ comments about children after some talk of
marriage – for marriage and family go together, and it is in the bound of
marriage that God blesses new families with children.
Jesus invites the children to himself. He rebukes the disciples who would hinder
them. He lays his hands on the children
and blesses them, and commends their faith, “of such is the kingdom of heaven”.
You know, we often point out that children have a faith that
is so much simpler and straightforward than adults, they seem to trust as a
matter of course. And Jesus wants us to
trust him with a similar child-like faith.
But consider this, children also take correction more easily
than adults. Maybe because they are more
used to it. But children quite often
hear both the correcting word of their parents, as well as the kind and loving
word. They trust that even when a parent
is telling them to do this, do that, do the other thing – that parent loves
them and wants what is best for them.
Not always, of course, for children are sinners too, but they do seem to
have a higher tolerance for correction than so many adults. Adults, in our pride, are often so much
harder to correct. We feel we’ve
outgrown such things. We know better.
And we are outraged, offended, indignant(!) if some other person should dare to
correct us!
Rather, receive the kingdom of God like a little child – in
both correction and love. With the
discipline of God’s word, and with the promises of his gospel. Trust him as a dear child trust his loving
Father. For he desires only your good,
and he has procured it in Christ.
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