Mark 10:1-12 :: “God-glorifying Marriage”

[Music] good morning it is so good to be with you and open up god's word together this morning uh yeah mark chapter 10 verses 1 through 12 that's where we're going to be spending our time i don't expect you to know off the top of your head what the topic of that passage is but we're looking at god glorifying marriage this morning and i just want to before we get into it i just want to acknowledge that i recognize that that can be a sensitive topic for some of us who may be sitting in this room or watching online just based on where you're at in the season of life that you're in i recognize that some people are single and would really love to be married i recognize that some people are in the midst of a struggle within their marriage and i also recognize that there are people in this room and watching online who have gone through a divorce in their past and so i recognize that this can be an incredibly challenging topic for some of us but i just want to acknowledge that we cannot go back and control our past but today and tomorrow in the rest of our lives we can live for god's glory and by his grace we have a hope and a future and that is amazing and so i'm excited to open up god's word with you this morning and i want to be sensitive also to those of you that may uh be struggling in this area so i just want to start by opening in prayer before we even read so let's pray together heavenly father thank you for this morning thank you for this time thank you for your word lord i just pray that your peace would pass all understanding lord i understand that there are people that this may be a challenge to walk through this morning but god you are good your word is good and lord we are so thankful that you give us a hope and a future for tomorrow god we love you so much we thank you for your word god empty me of anything that is not of you and uh god we just we're excited for what you have for us it's in jesus name we pray amen all right so mark 10 1 through 12 the subject that we're going to be looking at this morning is god's design for marriage god's design for marriage and the object that we are going to be looking at is love god and your spouse with a soft heart love god and your spouse with a soft heart and so um what we have to understand is that god's design for marriage is best for individuals for families and for society to flourish god's design for marriage is best for us as mankind to flourish and god's plan for marriage is unchanging we live in a culture that is constantly adapting constantly changing but god's design is unchanging and as as culture changes from generation to generation there may be new norms there may be new things that are accepted or focused on um as current events happen around us in these these different cultural moments that we see ourselves in it changes and it shapes the way our culture thinks and so our culture may attempt to define what is right and what is wrong but that doesn't necessarily make it accurate or true and so god has an incredible design and plan for marriage and it is a covenant that for those that are blessed to enter into that covenant is a covenant that can provide joy and contentment and it is beautiful for the flourishing of mankind and so that's really what we're going to be focused on this morning so in verses 1 through five that's where we are going to start mark chapter 10 verses one through five let's read it together then he arose from there and came to the region of judea by the other side of the jordan and the multitudes gathered to him again and as he was accustomed he taught them again the pharisees came to him and asked him is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife testing him and he answered and said to them what did moses command you they said moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to dismiss her and jesus answered and said to them because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept and really what we see the big idea in these first five verses is that jesus wants us to have the right heart the right heart is so important for us in in this covenant of marriage and so so starting in verse 1 we see that he arose from there and came to the region of judea the last place that jesus was with his disciples is in chapter 9 verse 33 he's in the city of capernaum which is on the north side of the sea of galilee he goes south into the region of judea and that's where he arrives and it says as was accustomed a multitude gathered to hear jesus because he is the best teacher that there has ever been and so a multitude gathers to hear jesus and also as was accustomed jesus taught them uh unfortunately also what was accustomed was the pharisees showed up and they attempted to test him and this test that they are trying to put jesus through isn't necessarily a test or a trap to get him arrested or in trouble from a governmental standpoint but they're attempting to make him to divide the multitude that is standing before him that he is teaching they're attempting for this to be a divisive topic they're attempting to discredit him in the eyes of the people that are listening because there is a major cultural uh understanding of this idea of is it lawful or not according to god's law of whether or not divorce is permitted and so they ask this incredibly loaded question to jesus trying to discredit him in front of the multitude and pin people against one another and so it's important for us to understand the question that they ask is it lawful is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife and jesus's response is and he answered and said to them what did moses command you so what jesus is doing is he's pointing directly back to moses's command in the torah in deuteronomy chapter 24. and there was this major debate going on at the time and there were two schools of jewish thought at the time that these that would have divided this multitude because some people would have fallen into one school of jewish thought and others would have fallen into the other school of jewish thought and so he's pointing back to deuteronomy 24 which is where these two schools of thought originated and and the passage that we see in deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 1 says this when a man takes a wife and marries her and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her and he writes her a certificate of divorce puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house and so they're asking jesus jesus is pointing back to deuteronomy 24 where moses is giving a command where moses is giving the law to the people and they're trying to test jesus by being divisive and discrediting him and the two schools of thought that originate from deuteronomy 24 are the school of thought of shamai and the school of thought of hillel and these two schools of thought are derived directly from this passage because we see the phrasing these two phrases she finds no favor in his eyes and also because he has found some uncleanness in her or other translations say indecency in her and the school of thought of shamai would say it's a conservative school of thought which would say unless there is infidelity in the marriage unless she has committed adultery then she is not unclean she is not indecent but if she has committed adultery then she is considered unclean she is considered indecent and therefore moses has permitted them to write a certificate of divorce and the other school of thought is halal which is a little bit more on the liberal side of things and it looks more and focuses more on the phrase she has lost favor in his eyes and so this school of thought would have been a lot more loose in terms of what is permissible for divorce even to the extent where if the husband's just no longer feeling it if he's not enjoying the marriage if she's lost favor in his eyes then he can permit a certificate of divorce and so last week pastor bruce talked about this idea of salt right and and there was no refrigeration at the time and so if you go to the market and buy your fish and they pack it in salt to try to preserve it till you get home and can cook it that day for dinner but let's just say the wife maybe got the fish that wasn't the most fresh catch right it's like starting to get a little bit of that funky fish smell and she brings it home and begins preparing it for her husband and family and it's just not good because it wasn't a good fish well the wife has lost a little bit of favor in the eyes of her husband and he can he's permitted to write a certificate of divorce as simple as that if mama burns the biscuits we can permit a certificate of divorce and it's it was just much more loose and so there were these two schools of thought and the pharisees were trying to test jesus and i want to affirm that jesus in no way is afraid of speaking the truth but he's trying to get at the heart which is a much larger issue than what is permissible for divorce so he's not afraid of speaking the truth but he takes a very intentional approach at how he responds to this question from the pharisees so he asks what did moses command you they say moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce again coming directly from deuteronomy chapter 24 and then in verse 5 it says this and jesus answered and said to them because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept what he's emphasizing is that it's so important for us to understand that in the covenant of marriage that it's important for us to have soft hearts towards god first and foremost and absolutely towards our spouse we need to have the right heart and so we're looking at this incredible gift this incredible blessing of the covenant of marriage and jesus is saying as soon as you start asking the questions how can i get out of this how can i get out of this covenant what are the loopholes for me to be able to get out of this covenant he's saying you've hardened your heart you have the wrong heart and you're asking the wrong questions so moses only permitted this because of the hardness of the hearts of those people that were asking the questions it's a great gift from god and it's the wrong approach to ask how we can get out of it it's this same concept if a husband and wife have a child and they they raise this child from the time they're born and they feed the child they change the child's diapers they provide everything that this child needs they sacrifice day in and day out they lose sleep over this child they help train up this child and educate this child and provide all the things that this kid needs and as they reach the age of 16 the parents have pinched every penny and sacrificed all that they could and on the 16th birthday they wake up the child bring them out to the driveway and there's a brand new car for their child and the child says well what if after i drive it for a little bit i don't like it and can i get a different one like that's not the right heart you like look at your child and be like you are a brat right that's but that's like the same idea that jesus is getting at he's he's saying like this gift of marriage is an absolutely incredible gift that god has intentionally and specifically designed and as soon as we start asking the questions how do we get out of it we have the wrong heart our hearts have become hardened towards the things of god and our hearts have become hardened towards our spouse and so it's so important for us as followers of jesus to continually soften our hearts towards god and soften our hearts towards our spouse so we see hard hearts first and foremost in the pharisees absolutely they're trying to divide and discredit jesus but we see hard hearts and those who are asking what is the way what is the bottom line what is the loophole for me to be able to get out of the covenant this incredible gift that god has given so it's important and i would encourage you as followers of jesus let's soften our hearts daily towards jesus let's soften our hearts daily towards our spouse so that we can enjoy the beautiful gift of the covenant of marriage so in verses one through five we see it's important for us to have the right heart but in verses six through eight we see the right plan the right plan for marriage and it says this in verse six through eight but from the beginning of creation god made them male and female for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh so then they are no longer two but one flesh jesus is very very very intentional about taking the answer to this question back to the creative order he says from the beginning of creation from the beginning of creation jesus doesn't say based on what's going on in the cultural culture around us here is what marriage is that's not what he's saying he's saying from the beginning of creation god specifically created and designed marriage with a plan and a purpose so he's intentional in going back to the beginning and that's so essential to our understanding of what marriage is because that means that if it goes back to the beginning if there is a specific design and an inventor for a plan and a purpose that what is going on in our culture around us does not allow us to change what that plan for marriage is and so what does jesus say he says first and foremost that from the beginning of creation god made them male and female we see that god creates adam and then in genesis 2 verses 18 through 25 god creates eve and the hebrew word that is used for eve is is comparable islam it's this idea of compatibility and comparable it means of equal quality and so adam was created and then god created eve of comparable and equal quality and the two were brought together in this marriage covenant male and female and i understand that our culture has expanded who marriage is intended for but jesus is intentional and what we are seeing in our culture was not unseen in jesus's culture the things that we are addressing in our time were also being addressed at the time jesus was teaching this so he's not shying away from anything and he says from the beginning the intent of marriage the design the plan the right plan for marriage is for a husband and wife to be joined together a male and a female to be joined together and i want to be very very very explicitly clear that there is no form of linear thinking that can get us from what jesus is saying the design of marriage is to any sort of mistreatment or devaluing of people that may experience same-sex attraction there is no way to jump from one to the other we are commanded as followers of jesus to love god first and foremost and to love our neighbors as ourself and that is not predicated on whether or not our neighbors look like us act like us think like us behave like us or believe like us we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourself even if none of those things align even if they are completely different and see things and do things differently we are commanded to love them and show them the love of jesus so there is no way and we have dropped the ball on this in the church there is no way to get from this is what god's designed for marriage is to any sort of mistreatment of anyone so jesus is saying that from the beginning there is a design for a male and a female a husband and a wife to be brought together in the covenant of marriage that's the design that is the plan and in verse 7 he continues on and says this for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined with his wife now at face value this seems like a perfectly sensible statement and it's just like oh yeah that makes sense when a husband and wife get married they leave their father and mother and they they become married right and that happens in the majority of the world but not maybe necessarily in southern california because no one can afford to move out of their parents house when they first get married but it does seem at face value to be a very logical statement but there's so much more there to it than just like oh when you get married you move out of your parents house there's so much more there to this and going back to exodus 20 when moses is given the ten commandments by god we see that those are given in a specific order of priority and the first four commandments that are given to moses for how we should live as people are completely related to our relationship with god himself because that is first and foremost our highest priority is to live our lives in a way that is honoring and glorifying to god that is our most important relationship but the fifth commandment that is given is to honor your father and mother and this is designating that the relational priority is god and then father and mother is our highest human relational priority and i recognize again that culture has shifted and changed a little bit but at the time this was absolutely essential and this was given intentionally in this order and so what jesus is saying when he's pulling from genesis chapter 2 verse 24 that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined with his wife what he's saying is that all of a sudden this relational priority goes through a reordering your spouse your husband or your wife now becomes the most important significant relationship that you have here on this earth until the day you breathe your last breath and so it's an important understanding of a reprioritization that yes absolutely a husband and a wife they come together but all of a sudden outside of their relationship with god your spouse has become your number one priority in life that's what god is saying through this and he continues on in verse 8 and says and the two shall become one flesh so they no longer are two but one flesh and again i think that the easy understanding of this is this picture of a physical intimacy of sexual intimacy the two become one flesh within the covenant of marriage and that's absolutely true sexual intimacy is reserved to be within the covenant of marriage we see that all throughout scripture that anything outside of that is considered immorality and the beauty of the covenant of marriage is that yes once you have pledged your life to someone else and god has brought you together that you can completely be one and know each other completely physically and sexually that is a beautiful gift and that is why it's designed to be in the confines of marriage and that is what is absolutely best for individuals for families and for society to flourish within the covenant of marriage but it does carry a greater connotation than just a physical intimacy it brings on the idea of complete emotional intimacy and complete spiritual intimacy and complete physical intimacy and the two becoming one flesh is not just a physical joining a physical consummation of the marriage it is so much greater than that is it is a complete unity that we bring together and i think in the conversation of divorce oftentimes what we think of is that the husband and the wife have come together and they've become one flesh and it's kind of like this joining of these two puzzle pieces and then all of a sudden when things start to go south and they're not working out anymore we just unplug the puzzle pieces and look for another puzzle piece that fits and that's not the idea of the two becoming one flesh that's not the idea of becoming completely unified i was born and raised just outside of detroit and detroit is known as being the motor city it's where henry ford made the model t and the assembly line of the car and everything and it's still like the automotive kind of mecca of uh the united states in terms of american-made vehicles um so that's one of the things that detroit can claim as being good um is it's the motor city but the ford family is still very prominent in the city you see the name henry ford everywhere whether it's on hospitals or anything else and one of the main museums just outside of detroit is the henry ford museum and there's this area within the henry ford museum that's called greenfield village and it's it's amazing we used to have to do field trips there all the time but this place is really amazing you walk into this village and it literally transports you to like the late 1800s early 1900s and as soon as you walk in you see these actors driving around these model t's on these cobblestone roads and you see all of these different little attractions that you can walk into so there's like a chapel that you can walk into that's in that time period there's a one-room schoolhouse that you can walk into and sit in on a lesson from these people that are teaching and there's a blacksmith shop and there's these stables but the one that always drew me in every single time that i went that i just wanted to spend my time watching was there was this glass blowing shop and it was so cool to sit there and watch these people i don't know if you've ever seen it but it is amazing to see what these artists do and there's like this master glass blower and then there's an apprentice glass blower and what they do is they heat up this glass so that it almost liquefies and then they pull it out of the fire and as it starts to cool off they put this long steel rod on the end of it and it's like a giant straw right and so they kind of roll it on this table to to cool the outside of the glass and as the outside of the glass begins to cool then the master glass blower begins to blow and shape this design and i have no idea how you would get anything other than like a bubble but they do it's amazing to see what they do and then they throw it back in the fire and bring it back out but one of the things that was always fascinating to me was that they would have the master glass blower and they would have the apprentice and they would each take a different color of glass right so they would be like the clear glass and the blue glass and they would each heat it up and they'd pull it out of the fire and they'd bring it together and they'd just like swirl it into these incredible designs and then the master glass blower would like create this incredible vase out of these two like clear and blue completely swirled together and this picture is like so amazing this creation is amazing and obviously it's a museum so they sell it in the gift shop for way more money than it should be worth but this picture is just amazing and this is the same idea of the two becoming one flesh we've been completely joined together in a way that doesn't just unplug you cannot go and get that vase and pull the blue out of the clear they have been completely unified being brought together and if you drop the vase and you break it you will just have hundreds of pieces that have clear and blue glass both in them you cannot separate them and what i love about the idea is that they maintain their distinctions the blue stays blue and the clear stays clear and the husband is the husband the husband does not become the wife the wife does not become the husband they are not one like they're actually becoming one person they maintain their distinctions in this beautiful creation of this vase and it is not possible to separate the two and so this is the plan that we see for marriage is that god has brought husband and wife to absolutely first and foremost prioritize each other over any other human relationship and they've been joined together completely emotionally spiritually and physically in a way that is inseparable so we see that it's important for us to have the right heart in marriage but it's also important to understand the right plan and that's why jesus takes us back to the beginning when god created it but in verses 9 through 12 we see the right commitment we see the right commitment and it says this in verse nine therefore what god has joined together let not man separate in the house his disciples also asked him again about the same matter and so he said to them whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her and if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she commits adultery it's so important for us to understand the level of commitment within the covenant of marriage and what jesus is demonstrating here is that we need to have the right understanding of this commitment he says therefore what god has joined together let not man separate god is the one who joins us together if you find yourself in a marriage currently god is the one who brought you together this wasn't some sort of accident that you stumbled upon someone and you were like oh this might work no god has joined the two of you together he is the one who has brought the two of you together and therefore it is not man's duty to separate that or to figure out how to separate that or to try to figure out what is permissible so that that can be separated god has joined those two things together when you look at that vase that master artist has created this beautiful creation intentionally and specifically for those two things to come together and be joined so therefore let not man separate it and i understand the challenges that we can face in marriage i'm not ignorant to the fact that when two imperfect people come into covenant with one another there are going to be some big bumps along the road i understand that but god's design is for this commitment to be a lifelong commitment therefore what god joined together let not man separate and i don't want to ignore verses 10 through 12 because jesus enters into the house away from the multitude he leaves the multitude he leaves the pharisees and he enters into a more private setting where the disciples are like well you didn't actually answer the question that they asked you um and so they they press in a little bit more and it says the disciples asked him again about the same matter so he said to them whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she commits adultery and what jesus is teaching on here is that if there is not a biblical grounds for divorce if there's not infidelity or adultery within a relationship and that relationship is annulled that marriage is broken that if you then enter into another marriage you are committing adultery that's what he's saying but we have to also hold in contention that in the gospel of matthew which is the parallel passage to this in matthew chapter 9 verses or chapter 19 verses 9 jesus does on the grounds of sexual immorality and infidelity permit divorce but i really don't want to spend our time focusing on that because the whole point of the passage the whole point of jesus's teaching is to understand the incredible gift of marriage the blessing of marriage and to do whatever we can to soften our hearts towards god and our spouse spouse so that we can live in this beautiful covenant of marriage it's not a matter of trying to find the loopholes it's a matter of seeing the gift for what it is and enjoying it to its fullest potential god's design for marriage is absolutely what is best for individuals for families and for our society to flourish so the last thing that we want to do is try to seek different ways that we can get out of this gift it's the wrong heart to approach marriage that way and i just i i can't even begin to fathom the picture that we have for the love within the commitment and the covenant of marriage that is given to us in ephesians chapter five the holy spirit through the pen of paul draws this equation to the covenant of marriage to jesus christ being the head and the husband and his people the followers of jesus being the bride of christ and we've all heard that said before the bride of christ but when we actually stop and think about the implications that this has on the covenant of marriage why this picture is so profound it's mind-blowing right how does christ love you he loves you unconditionally plan a for every single marriage is reconciliation and how do i know that is because no matter how many times i mess up god's desire is for me to be reconciled to him no matter how bad i mess up god's desire for me is to be reconciled to him and we see this god loves you so much that he left his throne in heaven sacrificing everything living a perfect life here on earth because you and i couldn't and he takes on the horrible death of the cross why because that was the punishment that you and i deserved he sacrificed everything because he loves you because he wants a relationship with you because he has made a covenant with you that he will not break and no matter how many times we stumble and fall and fail he will continue to extend grace and love and forgiveness to you which is absolutely amazing the way that god loves us it says in deuteronomy 31 verse 6 that he will never leave you or forsake you he will never leave you or forsake you this is the picture of the commitment within marriage we see in romans 8 38 and 39 this blows my mind it says for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heights nor depths nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord there is nothing nothing nothing that can separate you from the love of jesus which is amazing and that is the picture that we have of the commitment and the covenant of marriage that christ is the husband in the head and we are the bride it is so beautiful this gift of marriage that it seems so off to ask the question how do we get out of it right like what god has done for you and i so that we could be in covenant with him is amazing and that's the picture that we have of the commitment of marriage it's absolutely important for us to have the right heart and again i recognize that there are going to be seasons that are incredibly challenging in this covenant but we need to daily soften our hearts towards god and soften our hearts towards our spouse it's absolutely important for us to understand the right plan for marriage that a husband and a wife are joined together completely prioritizing one another over any other human relationship and that they are completely brought together physically emotionally and spiritually as one it's important for us to understand that this commitment is a commitment it's a covenant that we make until the day we breathe our last breath here on earth and meet jesus face to face that's the commitment he's made to us and that's the model that we have for our marriages today so let's soften our hearts towards god let's soften our hearts towards our spouse and i do also just want to acknowledge i want to recognize that there are some people in this room and some people who are watching online who have never entered into that covenant with jesus that is by far first and foremost the greatest gift that has ever been offered to you the god of the universe died on the cross and rose again so that you could have a relationship with him that changes today and that changes your eternity so i would just invite you if you have not entered into that covenant today is the day that you can do that and it's not a challenge he doesn't make a high hurdle for you to jump over we're told that if we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts that god raised jesus from the dead that we'll be saved and so i just want to invite you to do that we're going to enter into a time of prayer right now before we get back into worship and if that's you you don't need to repeat any sort of prayer or anything like that but that gift is the greatest gift that you could ever be offered and it is available to you this morning so would you buy your heads in prayer with me heavenly father thank you so much for the gift of marriage we thank you that you are the master artist who has joined spouses together god we thank you for that beautiful gift for those that are able to enjoy it but lord we thank you so much more for the picture of love and commitment that you have for us god you are so good you love us so much in a way that you will never leave us nor forsake us no matter how many times we stumble and fall god you will always be there to pick us up so lord i just pray for those that you're working in their hearts for the first time this morning god i pray that they would confess with their mouth that they would see you as their god that they would believe in their heart that you jesus were raised from the dead and that they can enter into this covenant with you and they can be part of this family of followers of jesus god i want to lift up the marriages of this church right now god i know how challenging and how difficult this covenant can be to uphold at times but lord we just ask for your strength we ask for your grace we ask that you would help us soften our hearts towards you god and towards our spouses and god we ask that we would be able to be an example of love and commitment and covenant in this dark world for you and for your gospel to go forward lord we thank you that you promise us a bright future we thank you for your grace and we thank you that we can enter back into your throne room and worship you now it's in jesus name we pray amen you

Channel: Calvary Nexus

Views: 89

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Jesus, God, Bible, Book of Mark, gospel, marriage, family, Jesus is King, society, God’s plan for marriage, represent Jesus, faith, contentment, joy

Id: 10jgX1Km_WE

Length: 37min 56sec (2276 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 14 2021