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More than a Feeling! #4

Delete the Divorce Option


[This month Pastor Kirk and Pastor Suzette join forces to help us take our relationships to a brand new level!]

“And some Pharisees came up to Him, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. And He answered and said to them, "What did Moses command you?" And they said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away." But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment."But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.”   - Mark 10:2-6
 
The Pharisees were focused on the legal aspect of marriage and divorce – but the real issue at hand is hardness of heart.  Guard your heart so that it doesn't become hard!
 
"For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."   - Mark 10:7-9
 
Marriage is a recognition of what God has joined together.  Similar to church - you don't join a marriage, you are joined in marriage. 
 
Matthew 5:31-32

The three “A”s that the Bible allows for divorce – abandonment, abuse, adultery.  The Bible does not make allowance for divorce out of inconvenience, personal unhappiness, or boredom.  Let's try to go to the heart of the matter on divorce and find God's perspective on marriage and relationships!  This is where the blessing is!
 
Malachi 2:14-16
 
God says He hates divorce. He does not say He hates divorced people.  Divorce is not the unpardonable sin.  After walking with people through the awful process of divorce – I know why God hates it. There are no winners. There are many losers.
 
At the heart of the divorce issue – at the heart of the matter - is the spirit of covenant breaking.  God is a covenant God.  He builds relationship on the foundation of covenant, not on the foundation of convenience.
 
Our society is full of covenant-breaking.  Remember when years ago great athletes played their whole career on one team?  Now it’s far more common for athletes to hop from team to team to team. 

To delete the divorce option is to build on the spirit of covenant.  Being in covenant means that when there are problems – we have to find an answer to make our marriage work.  And the answer is not found in breaking covenant – the answer is found in keeping covenant.

We sometimes feel like we’re in the ring together slugging it out, but neither one of us is leaving the ring!
 
We are naïve or foolish to think storms are not going to come through life, through marriage (through church!).  Every commitment will get tested.  An understanding of covenant will keep us from making decisions in the context of a storm.

We sometimes feel like we're in the ring together slugging it out, but neither one of us is leaving the ring!

Offenses and tribulation must come – it’s a given.  But covenant overcomes them both!  Covenant is not just survival through storms – it will help you build a great big life.  You can build for the future because you can count on the covenant!