Grace In The Aftermath 6-1-25 AM
I. Inspiration speaks about divorce (Matt. 19:3-9).
a. The Pharisees often tested Jesus and this text contains one of those situations.
b. The teaching of that time was divided when it came to divorce, just like today.
i. There were those that believed in divorce for any reason.
ii. There were those that believed in divorce only for fornication.
c. What Jesus did was point them back to God’s creation of marriage in the beginning.
d. What Jesus did was uphold God’s original design for marriage: lifelong, a covenant, and sacred.
e. Jesus also recognized that sexual immorality can so damage a relationship that it can break the marital covenant.
f. Notice that Jesus did not command divorce in this situation.
i. A couple who experiences adultery on the part of one of the parties in the covenant does not have to divorce.
ii. If both parties can reconcile, that is wonderful and the marriage is saved.
g. However, some cannot reconcile, so the Lord allows for divorce in that instance.
h. In a perfect world, this would be the only cause for divorce, but we know this is not a perfect world.
i. Paul spoke about marriage in 1 Corinthians 7.
i. A wife should not depart from her husband (1 Cor. 7:10).
ii. The husband should not put away or divorce his wife (1 Cor. 7:11).
iii. If either does for some reason other than fornication, he or she is to remain unmarried or seek reconciliation (1 Cor. 7:11).
j. Paul then taught that a Christian married to a non-Christian is not so tied to the non-Christian that he or she can leave the Lord to keep the marriage together (1 Cor. 7:15).
i. Not under bondage means that the marriage vow is not stronger than one’s vow to Christ to live for Him.
ii. But nowhere does Paul say that this allows the Christian to remarry.
iii. Jesus gave the one exception that allows for remarriage and that is fornication (Matt. 19:9)
k. This shows us that there will be divorce for other reasons besides fornication.
II. Embrace restoration (John 8:1-11).
a. This is another account where Jesus was tested.
b. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman before Jesus who had been taken in the very act of adultery.
i. It takes two to commit adultery.
ii. It is telling that the man involved was not brought before Jesus.
iii. This was strictly a plan to entrap Jesus.
c. How did our Lord respond?
i. A response based purely on justice would have been to condemn the woman to death.
ii. Instead, Jesus showed grace to the woman.
d. Jesus said that for the one among them who was without sin to cast the first stone.
e. Their response was to slowly walk away beginning with the oldest to the youngest.
f. Notice that Jesus did not deny a sin had taken place.
i. Jesus told her to go and sin no more.
ii. This implies that she had sinned.
g. The church, us who belong to Christ, need to react in the same way when divorce occurs.
h. Unless we have been through a divorce, we don’t understand the weight that is on one who has.
i. There is the weight of the different emotions we mentioned in the introduction.
ii. There is the spiritual weight of questioning if you are still right with God or not.
i. The response of a Christian should be compassion.
j. However, if you talk with those who have experienced divorce the response some will say what they have seen is suspicion or silence.
i. Suspicion that they had committed some sin that caused the other spouse to turn to fornication or end the marriage.
ii. Silence in that they are ignored as people because we don’t know what to say to them.
k. We can’t treat divorced individuals as second-class Christians.
l. How would we want to be treated if it was us who experienced such an unwanted experience (Matt. 7:12)?
m. We have to avoid gossip or making assumptions (Matt. 7:1).
n. We must continue to be friendly and make sure to include people who have experienced divorce as much as we can, keeping their feelings in mind.
III. Practical ways the church can help (Rom. 12:9-13).
a. This text in Romans is not specifically about those who have experienced divorce.
b. It is specifically about how we are to treat one another in the church in any situation.
c. We need to listen without judging, while understanding there are two sides to every story.
d. We need to offer counseling if wanted or needed.
i. This is not something everyone can do.
ii. This needs to be done by those who are qualified.
e. Don’t exclude from positions God allows – we should never make anything harder on someone than God does.
f. We can help with the adjustment period.
i. There may be a need for help with childcare.
ii. There may be a need for help with moving.
g. We need to show love while standing firm on the truths of scripture.