Lust & Divorce (Restoring God's Purpose for Sexuality)

I. Introduction (ME WE)

A. Obsession with Love in Today’s Culture.

1. Songs – Sing some excerpts from memory

a. All of me

b. The way I am

c. Brown Eyed Girl, Amie

2. Books - Mention similar book themes

a. Amish Love stories

b. Fabio Books

c. Etc.

3. Movies – List some of them

a. Chick Flicks

b. Princess Bride

c. Brave Heart, Gladiator, etc.

We cannot get enough of Love. Love stories and songs strike a chord in our hearts. We know it is right. We want to experience it over and over again.

B. The Sad Reality of Love in Today’s Culture

1. This culture does not do a good job at love

a. Adultery

b. Divorce and Remarriage

c. Single Mothers and Derelict Fathers

2. The result is that we are all messed-up

a. Insecure

b. Untrusting

c. Confused

3. The media is often the only way to experience love

C. The Way Culture Works

1. Definitions:

a. the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. Also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time. Ex. popular culture, Southern culture

b. the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. Ex. a corporate culture focused on the bottom line

c. the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic. Ex. studying the effect of computers on print culture, Changing the culture of materialism will take time …

2. Culture Today

a. There is no positive unifying culture

b. What the culture has in common is that we each do what is right in our own eyes

c. Confusion, sin and fickleness unifies us

3. Christian Culture

a. We (Christians) have Christ as our unifier

b. Christ’s gospel is our common practice

c. Let’s Stand to hear the reading of the gospel ()

() "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. "Furthermore it has been said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' "But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. (NKJV)

II. Body (GOD YOU)

A. Some Reminders of Marriage in Christ’s Counterculture

1. Marriage and the Sexual Act is Meant for Reproduction

a. Be Fruitful and Multiply!

a. Be Fruitful and Multiply! , , God’s biological design

b. Children are Blessings! , Examples of barren women having children

i. () And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (NKJV)

ii. () So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (NKJV)

c. The Culture of Life as Opposed to the Culture of Death: If you are not welcoming and open to having children – do not even entertain romantic thoughts! Remain Single!

iii. God’s biological design

2. Christian Parents are to Raise Godly Children

a. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. (NKJV)

b. Children are Blessings!

i. () <<A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.>> Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, To sit up late, To eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep. Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate. (NKJV)

b. () "For I have known him [Abraham], in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him." (NKJV)

c.

ii. Examples of Biblical barren women having children: Sarah, Debrah, Israel’s wives.

c. The Culture of Life as Opposed to the Culture of Death: If you are not welcoming and open to having children – do not even entertain romantic thoughts! Remain Single!

3. Salvation and Helping one another Become like Christ is the Goal of Marriage

a.

2. Christian Parents are to Raise Godly Children

a. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. (NKJV)

b.

c.

b. () "For I have known him [Abraham], in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him." (NKJV)

c. () And this is the second thing you do: You cover the altar of the LORD with tears, With weeping and crying; So He does not regard the offering anymore, Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, "For what reason?" Because the LORD has been witness Between you and the wife of your youth, With whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. But did He not make them one, Having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. Therefore take heed to your spirit, And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. "For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates divorce, For it covers one's garment with violence," Says the LORD of hosts. "Therefore take heed to your spirit, That you do not deal treacherously." (NKJV)

B. Adultery

1. Negative Consequences of Adultery

3. Salvation and Helping one another Become like Christ is the Goal of Marriage

a. () Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. (NKJV)

a.

b. () Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. (NKJV)

i. (“You have heard that it was said” is referring to and )

c. () Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (NKJV)

ii. Comment on the exaggerated language: The seriousness of hell and doing whatever is needed to avoid it.

B. Adultery

b. Adultery and Fornication is not Christian and will keep one out of God’s kingdom!

1. Negative Consequences of Adultery

c. , etc. God will judge those who defile the marriage bed!

2. The Passage in Light of Love

a.

i. (“You have heard that it was said” is referring to and )

a. Man up! Be like Braveheart! Woman up! Be a faithful chick!

ii. Comment on the exaggerated language: The seriousness of hell and doing whatever is needed to avoid it.

b. , Love fulfills the Law

b. Adultery and Fornication is not Christian and will keep one out of God’s kingdom!

c.

c. , etc. God will judge those who defile the marriage bed! fornicators and adulterers God will judge!

C. Divorce

1. (“you have heard that is was said is referring to )

2. The Passage in Light of Love

a. Man up! Be like Braveheart! Woman up! Be a faithful chick!

2. What does this passage exactly mean? Some other passages which can help interpret this scripture:

b. Love fulfills the Law!:

a.

b.

i. : What is the greatest commandment?

c.

ii.

d.

c.

() Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (NKJV)

3. Church Tradition:

C. Divorce

a. Some conservative Christians see this passage saying that only in the case of sexually immorality in the marriage, the other spouse is allowed to not only divorce the other but is then freed to marry another. That another person must be a Christian. BUT…

1. (“you have heard that is was said is referring to )

b. For more than 18 thousand years the church has taught that generally, divorce is not allowed. If a spouse is continually (as opposed to a one-time sin which is repented of) living in adultery the other can (and even should) divorce. The faithful spouse is to remain single until the other either repents and is reconciled or dies. They cannot remarry another. Only death frees the faithful spouse to remarry. They can only remarry a Christian.

2. What does this passage exactly mean? Some other passages which can help interpret this scripture:

c. Quote an early Christian like Justin Martyr

a.

II. Conclusion (WE)

() The Pharisees also came to Him, testing Him, and saying to Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?" And He answered and said to them, "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' "and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." His disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry." But He said to them, "All cannot accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given: "For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He who is able to accept it, let him accept it." (NKJV)

A. Marriage Can Be Hard

b.

1. I have never experienced marriage but I know it can be hard

() Then He arose from there and came to the region of Judea by the other side of the Jordan. And multitudes gathered to Him again, and as He was accustomed, He taught them again. The Pharisees came and asked Him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" testing Him. And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her." And Jesus answered and said to them, "Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. "But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 'and the two shall become one flesh'; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. "Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate." In the house His disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. So He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. "And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." (NKJV)

2. Many Christians have obeyed Jesus’ teachings on marriage

c.

3. Being faithful to Jesus may mean remaining single

B. Singleness Can Be Hard

() For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. (NKJV)

d.

1. I have experienced singleness and I know it can be hard

2. Many have done it and I know from experience that not only is it possible but because of Jesus it can be a life filled with joy and contentment