Mark Davis: 0:05

Hello everyone, this is Mark Davis and I want to welcome you to the Gospel Explorations podcast, where we gather together each week to take time to explore God's Word, to learn how we ought to live in this present age. I'm glad you've chosen to spend some time with us today. Let's jump into today's episode. Welcome back to the Gospel Explorations podcast, where we're diving deep into the scriptures to understand God's heart truth and call on our lives. Today we're going to be exploring a passage that is both deeply challenging and incredibly revealing. If you have your Bibles, we're going to be looking at Matthew 5, verses 31 and 32. So let's grab them and take a look at this passage together. Here's what the Bible says, starting in Matthew 5, 31 and 32. Let him give her a writing of divorcement. But I say unto you that whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery, and whosoever shall marry her, that is, divorced, committeth adultery. Now, what we find here in this passage is one of Jesus' six. You have heard it said. But I say unto you statements in the Sermon on the Mount and in some of these we've already looked at them already. But we see where he moves beyond surface obedience and really dives into the heart of the law. And that's what he does yet again here with this issue of divorce. You see, he's not just giving a rule about divorce. Rather, he's calling his listeners, you and I, back to the heart of marriage. And so we want to take a look at this today and see exactly how this applies to us in the 21st century. The first thing I want us to make sure we are aware of is that context does matter.

Mark Davis: 1:56

In Jesus' time, a divorce had become alarmingly easy for men. There was a passage in Deuteronomy 24, verse 1, that rabbis were regularly debating what constituted what the scriptures called uncleanness in a wife. Here's what the verse says in Deuteronomy 24, verse 1. When a man hath taken a wife and married her and it came to pass that she find no favor in his eyes because he hath found some uncleanness in her, then let him write her a bill of divorcement and give it in her hand and send her out of his house. Now again, we said these rabbis were debating what this actually meant. There was one school after the rabbi Shammai, who took a conservative approach and said you know, only sexual immorality justified divorce. And yet there was another side of the coin under Rabbi Hillel, which was the most popular teaching at the time, which permitted for divorce for really almost any reason, including, quite famously, even burnt food. If your wife burns your food, then you have the right to divorce her. So you can imagine within the context of Jesus' day that a woman could be cast aside legally if she depleased her husband really in any trivial way, and all a man needed was this certificate of divorce. Now Charles Spurgeon puts it well when he says that the original requirement of a written certificate was really just a check against a hasty divorce, of a written certificate was really just a check against a hasty divorce. It was meant to slow things down, to give emotions time to cool, but by the time Jesus' day had come around, it had been twisted into a loophole to allow for male convenience and cruelty.

Mark Davis: 3:37

And so Jesus addresses this issue in the Sermon on the Mount, and what we notice here is that Jesus yet again calls us back to the heart. He doesn't just tighten the rules around a situation, he completely redirects the conversation and he says you know, but I say unto you Again, he points us back to God's design for marriage, and what Jesus is saying here is that unless there is sexual immorality what the Greek calls pornea that's the Greek word pornea here then the reality is unless there's sexual immorality, then divorce just leads to further sin, because from God's perspective that marriage covenant still stands. And so we understand this wasn't just a shock to first century Jews, it goes against the grain in our modern culture too, because we live in a world where really the reality is personal happiness often takes precedent over being faithful to God's covenant. And Jesus reminds us yet again that marriage is not just a contract, it's a sacred bond made before God. And so he's not being harsh here, he's rather being protective. He's protecting marriage, but he's also protecting vulnerable women, especially those that in their society had very little recourse if they were cast aside.

Mark Davis: 5:00

And so Jesus again is just calling us back to the heart of God in this issue. It's not just about following rules, it's about having the right heart before God, and I think what Jesus is doing here is he's bringing back a weight to the covenant, because he says whenever a man divorces his wife, he causes her to commit adultery. And that's pretty intense. And what Jesus is pointing out here is that just because a divorce is legally recognized within the culture and society doesn't mean that it's spiritually recognized and that God may still see that man or that woman as being bound in a marriage covenant. And if one of them remarries without a legitimate reason for divorce, this new relationship they have will not be built on a clean foundation. And so Jesus' words challenge yet again the assumptions of the day and the assumptions of our day that just because something is culturally accepted doesn't mean that it's right in the eyes of God. And this is true even when it comes to marriage. You see, the bar is high because the purpose is sacred. It reflects the covenant love between Christ and His church.

Mark Davis: 6:14

So then the questions always ask well, pastor, what about grace? Well, here's the reality. If you're listening today and you've experienced divorce, if you're listening today and you've experienced divorce, there's no doubt that this passage seems heavy. It may even be painful. And to those individuals I want to speak to you for just a brief moment. I want to remind you that Jesus is not shaming people who have broken marriages in their past.

Mark Davis: 6:48

That's not the purpose of this conversation, of this discourse. What he's doing here is he's confronting a culture that had made light of the covenant of marriage, and he wants to call us to go back to honoring marriage as he designed it to be. He's not condemning the broken, and the beautiful truth that we find here in the gospel, repeated over and over again, is that there's grace. That means, then, friend, that there's grace for those who are divorced, and God doesn't discard people like people discard relationships. Remember, god is a God of redemption and he's a God of healing and a God of new beginnings, and we're reminded over and over again that his grace covers sin, and that would even be sins related to our marriages. And at the same time that Jesus is giving grace, you know what else he's doing. He's calling us to take the covenant of marriage seriously, meaning we aren't to treat it like a contract that can be easily broken, but rather we ought to lean into it. We ought to take his vision for faithfulness in marriage, his vision for what sacrifice looks like in marriage, his vision for what forgiveness should be in our marriages.

Mark Davis: 8:01

So, as we wrap this up today, I want us to take a few practical applications from this passage, and the first is this what do we do with this truth In the 21st century? How do we handle this. What do we do with it? Well, first off, here's something to consider If you're married, let this passage be a call to invest in your marriage relationship. I want to challenge you to choose forgiveness, to choose patience, to choose love, and don't look for loopholes, but rather look for ways to serve. So make your marriage your priority. Another thing would be this If you're considering marriage, remember that marriage is not just about compatibility.

Mark Davis: 8:44

It's not just about finding someone that you can get along with. Rather, it's a holy covenant before a holy God, and you need to enter it with prayer, wisdom and counsel. You need to see God's face about this individual that you're planning on spending the rest of your life with. And then, for those that are listening today, that are divorced, can I just remind you don't let shame be the final word. Rather, take your story to Jesus, because from it he can bring healing, and he still wants to write a story filled with grace. So this isn't the end.

Mark Davis: 9:20

And then, for all of us today, whether we're single, married, divorced or even remarried, jesus is inviting us to value faithfulness like he does, to live our lives marked by his covenant of love, because that's how he loved us and he wants us to show that same love to others.

Mark Davis: 9:41

So remember, as we wrap this up today, that Jesus never uses truth to crush us, but rather to free us, because he comes to free us from our cultural lies about relationships, to free us from a shallow love and to free us so that we might reflect God's covenant heart. Hey, can I just say thanks for joining me today on Gospel Explorations, and if this episode blessed or challenged you, I would be really appreciative if you would take a moment to share it with someone who might need to hear it. And remember this God's heart for you is full of truth. It's full of grace and always calling you deeper. Until next time, keep exploring the gospel. Thanks for listening. I hope that you've been both encouraged and challenged today. If you want to connect with us further, please be sure to check us out on the web at gospelexplorationscom. We look forward to having you join us again next time.