Sat Inspiration

Morning Inspiration with Pastor Merritt

Somebody said that marriage is like flies on a screen door – the ones on the outside are trying to get in and the ones on the inside are trying to get out. I can tell you as a pastor I talk to singles who are frustrated because they are not married, and I talk with married people who are frustrated, because they are married. Jesus is going to give both groups a lot to think about. The single person needs to listen to what Jesus said before he or she gets married. The married person had better listen to what Jesus said, before they think about ending their marriage.

The verses in Matthew 19 summarize pretty much everything Jesus says about marriage and divorce to those who are single, married, or divorced.

The reason Jesus even got into this topic was because of a question that His ever present antagonist, the Pharisees, asked Him.

“And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, ‘Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?’” (Matthew 19:3)

To put this in modern day terms what they were saying was, “Is there any such thing as a ‘no fault’ divorce?” California was the first state in the country that passed a law saying that basically you could get divorced for any reason or no reason. That view is practically held now in all 50 states.

These Pharisees, being sticklers for the law, were asking, “Is it biblical to get a divorce for any reason? Is it right?” In God’s eyes can you get a divorce for any reason and get away with it? You have to understand that in that day there were two primary schools of thought about divorce that were led by two very prominent rabbis. One was a liberal and one was a conservative. The liberal view said that if your wife burned the biscuits you could get a divorce. If your wife had too many wrinkles you could get a divorce. If she looked bad or cooked bad you could tell her, “Hit the road Jackie!” Another school of thought was a lot more conservative and had basically narrowed down the reason for divorce being some type of sexual sin.

Notice that one thing has not changed in 2000 years. The Pharisees were looking for reasons that a couple could divorce instead of looking for a recipe on how to stay married. They were really asking two questions: #1- “In God’s eyes how can you get out of a marriage” and #2- “If you can get out of a marriage how do you get back in?”

Once again Jesus didn’t answer their question. Why? Because they were asking the wrong question. Instead of answering the question, “How can you get out of a marriage?” Jesus answered this question, “Why should you stay in a marriage?” Jesus gives the right answer to the right question – short, succinct, simple, but garlic-breath strong.

“He answered, ‘Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.’” (Matthew 19:4-6)

Jesus goes way back thousands of years, 39 books, to the first book and second chapter of the Bible. He simply says, “There is your answer.”

The reason Jesus did that is simple. What He just said and what you just read is God’s default position for marriage. If you are familiar with computers this is God’s homepage for marriage. If you want to know what God says about marriage it is our key take away. Key Take Away: One and done.