Sermon Tone Analysis

Divorce? Adultery?

Remarriage?

Matthew 5:31-32   |   Shaun LePage   |   June 25, 2006

 

 

I.

Introduction

A.   Divorced couples in Albuquerque, New Mexico, can take advantage of a new business in town.

The company is called Freedom Rings: Jewelry for the Divorced.

Founded by jeweler and divorcee Lynn Peters, the company makes custom jewelry out of wedding rings.

Each customer at Freedom Rings pays a fee, and the ring-smashing ceremony begins—complete with champagne and music.

Just before the smashing the M. C. says, “We will now release any remaining ties to your past by transforming your ring—which represents the past—into a token of your new beginning.

Now take the hammer.

Stop for a moment to consider the transformation that is about to begin your new life.

Ready?

With this swing let freedom ring!”

She then uses a four-pound sledgehammer to whack her emblem of love and fidelity into a shapeless piece of metal.

And the ceremony ends.

(Brian Peterson, /New Man/, October, 1994, p. 8)

B.    As we march through the Sermon on the Mount, we come to yet another difficult subject.

Last week we looked at Jesus’ words about adultery and lust.

This morning, we’ll look at a subject that is closely related: divorce.

C.   I think we can all agree that divorce is an enormous problem in our day.

Surely, in part we can place some of the blame on society.

1.

The no-fault divorce laws of the 1970’s resulted in a drastic increase in divorces.

/Time /magazine—thirteen years ago, quoted a professor at George Washington University School of Law in an article on divorce.

He said, “It is easier in these United States to walk away from a marriage than from a commitment to purchase a used car.

Most contracts cannot be unilaterally abrogated; marriages in contemporary America can be terminated by practically anyone at any time, and without cause.”

(/Time/, Sept. 1993)

2.     Years ago, Paul Harvey announced on his daily radio program that Romeo Bitencourt of Porto Alegre, Brazil, had just been granted a divorce.

Harvey was amazed at this news.

He explained that Romeo was a Brazilian farmer who was now 90 years old.

He had been married to his wife for 65 years.

He had twelve children, 50 grandchildren and 36 great-grandchildren.

The reason given for the divorce?

Incompatibility.

The laws of Brazil are apparently just as ridiculous as our own.

It’s just too easy to get a divorce.

D.   But, we can’t just sit back and blame our government or the courts.

In 1999, for the first time in history, the divorce rate among Christians surpassed that of the general population.

Churches—Christians—surely must bear much of the blame.

E.    Joseph Stowell, President of Moody Bible Institute, has said that he struggles mightily on how to apply the Bible’s teachings on the subject of divorce.

Stowell says we must keep our commitment to strong families and still provide welcome and support to those who have been damaged by divorce.

This means maintaining a proper balance between grace and truth.

“Grace that threatens truth is not grace at all,” Stowell says.

“And truth apart from grace requires the impossible goal of perfection.

God’s nature combines grace and truth without compromising either.

This is our challenge, too, if we are to display His character in our day when broken homes are so common.”

F.    That’s what I want to try to do this morning—strike a proper balance between grace and truth.

The truth about divorce and remarriage in Scripture must be taught and obeyed.

In Malachi, chapter 2, God said, “*I hate divorce*.”

(v.16).

Jesus said in Matthew 19:6, “…*What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate*.”

Grace requires that we teach and apply the biblical standards with compassion.

G.   [Pray that this message would strike that proper balance.]

II.

Body—Matthew 5:31-32

A.   The Text: Matthew 5:31-32 (NASB95): “*It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’; 32 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*.”

1.     “*It was said, ‘Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce’*”

a)    This statement is actually a summary of Deuteronomy 24:1-4.

This passage was not addressing the issue of divorce for adultery because the Old Testament was very clear on that matter.

Adulterous wives did not receive a certificate of divorce.

They received the death sentence.

b)    Deuteronomy 24:1-4 was dealing with the issue of true incompatibility—a husband who refused to stay married to his wife for lesser reasons.

The purpose of this law was to protect the woman from the charge of adultery when it was found out that her husband had sent her away.

If she was dead, that meant she had committed adultery.

If she had a certificate of divorce, that meant her husband had “sent her away” for some other reason.

c)    Dr.

Thomas Constable, professor at Dallas Seminary, explains that there were two schools of thought in Jesus’ day: “Rabbi Hillel’s liberal position was that God permitted a divorce "for every cause" (Matt.

19:3), for example, burning the husband's breakfast.

Rabbi Shammai's conservative position allowed divorce only for fornication (sexual sin).

Jesus said that God permitted divorce for fornication, but He warned against remarrying after such a divorce (Matt.

19:9).”

d)    We’ll look at this in more detail when we get to Matthew 19, but for now Matthew 5:32 gives us a good summary of Jesus’ teaching on the subject of divorce.

2.     *“…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*.”

a)    *“Everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery.*”

Jesus’ teaching lines up with the conservative school of thought—Rabbi Shammai’s school.

The lone exception—according to Jesus—was for “*the reason of unchastity…*” “*Unchastity*” is the Greek word porneia—from which we get our word “pornography”.

It is a general word that refers to any type of illicit or illegitimate sex.

Its meaning in this context is clearly adultery.

If the wife has any type of sexual activity with anyone other than her husband, she is guilty of porneia.

b)    If a woman was divorced in that day, she had no alternative but to find another man.

When she did, she committed adultery.

If the divorce was not legitimate, the husband who sent her away was the cause of the adultery—he drove her to adultery and was just as guilty as she.

c)    “*And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery*.”

Please notice that Jesus’ words protected women in a very male-dominated world.

If Jesus was obeyed in this matter, there would be far fewer divorces.

There was only one exception.

That would have given women a much more stable existence.

Jesus was saying, “Men—don’t mistreat your wives by divorcing for any old reason.

If you do, you’re a party to adultery.

You force her to commit adultery.

And if your buddy down the street divorces his wife without just cause, when you marry her, you’re committing adultery too.”

III.The Application—Now, the subject of divorce and remarriage in Scripture is somewhat complicated.

I’m sure I could not begin to answer every possible question or address every particular situation in one sermon.

But, what I’d like to do is give you a summary of what I believe the Bible teaches on the subject by addressing four categories of people.

We may be in different categories (so to speak) but we are all to be soldiers in the fight against divorce.

A.  Never married?

1.     Singleness can be God’s will.

a)    1 Corinthians 7:7-8: “*Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am.

However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I*.”

b)    Matthew 19:11-12