Mathew
United to the Kingdom
No matter what choices you make in life they will have two sides
Like a coin, it takes two sides to show its value
A head and a tail
There will be Privilege and Responsibility
Romance and Duty
Make sure your love goes beyond any law
If you are married or want to be married,
Make sure you have the commitment to love till death, do you part
Make sure that in all you do, you keep the One who joined you together, with you
God is the adhesive bond because God is LOVE
So be increasing in love seeking the Kingdom of Heaven first
If you are single, stay committed to your marriage with Christ, the Bride Groom
And seek the Kingdom of Heaven first
United to the Kingdom
Again, we find Jesus being tested by the Pharisees.
This time it is on the subject of marriage and divorce.
The Pharisees asked Jesus…
"Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife
for any and every reason?"
Matthew 19:3
Jesus answers the question
with the original intent of marriage.
"… at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
Matthew 19:4-6
I hate being alone.
Guys, it is nice hanging around with you
but I love being with my wife, Sandy.
I love that God made us male and female.
I love the two of us being one.
For 51 years, Sandy and I have been married
but this thing of being “ONE” is not always easy.
In our 50 years of marriage,
there has not been a subject that at one point or another
we did not see eye to eye on.
It would be impossible to count the times
we were not one.
We have had disagreements on many things.
Some of those disagreements
have been very strong disagreements.
Yes, I love marriage…
But there are times when being one, is no fun.
God says about Marriage…
It is a one and done deal.
You don’t separate what God has joined together.
But I do understand why the Pharisees
wanted a different deal.
They wanted marriage to be what they joined together.
So, when their passion for one burned out,
they could move on with another.
The Pharisees try to get Jesus to disagree
with Moses and the law by asking…
"did Moses command that a man give his wife
a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
Matthew 19:7
Jesus’s answer is very interesting…
"Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
Matthew 19:8-9
Jesus says….
“Moses permitted”
Two things should be recognized here.
The first is the law Moses instituted
would not have been necessary if we “LOVED”.
All the law and the Prophets are fulfilled in this;
love the Lord and love your neighbor as yourself.
The reason for the law is to protect us
from a lack of love.
The second point is directly dealing with the relationship
between a husband and wife…
But it is the same message.
Divorce was permitted to protect against the hard heart,
the heart without love.
The Pharisees understood the difficulty
of being one in marriage.
The disciples also realized the same thing.
"If this is the situation between a husband and wife,
it is better not to marry."
Matthew 19:10
Statistics prove marriage and being one for a life time
is too hard to accept.
More and more couples are embracing cohabitation.
Because marriage is binding Love…
And cohabitors don’t have that
strong of love for each other.
Like the Pharisees, we like living in a world
where we know, before we marry,
we can get a divorce.
Why?
Because there is not a strong enough love
to commit till death do we part.
The passion between a man and a woman is very strong.
The way we talk about sex so freely
and use sex language so freely in normal conversations…
Stems from the burning passion for the opposite sex.
Paul in writing to the Corinthians says…
But if they cannot control themselves,
they should marry,
for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
1 Corinthians 7:9
But this is not a fix all for our sex drive.
Because if we marry…
We are to love each other and become one.
Not only physically…
But in spirit and soul and that is not easy.
No wonder Paul say…
If you are unmarried.
Don’t seek a wife
1 Corinthians 7:26
Jesus says it this way…
"Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
Matthew 19:11-12
Let’s face it…
Not being married for most of us
would not be easy and lead to sin.
On the other hand…
Being married is not easy and can lead to sin.
The best is, if you can handle it…
Is to become eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake.
Matthew 19:12 NKJV
Final thought…
No matter what choices you make in life
they will have two sides.
Like a coin, it takes two sides to show its value…
A head and a tail.
There will be Privilege and Responsibility.
Romance and Duty.
Make sure your love goes beyond any law.
If you are married, or want to be married,
make sure you have the commitment
to love till death, do you part.
Make sure that in all you do…
You keep the One who joined you together with you.
God is the adhesive bond because God is LOVE.
So be increasing in love…
Seeking the Kingdom of Heaven first.
If you are single…
Stay committed to your marriage to Christ
our coming Bride Groom
And seek the Kingdom of Heaven first.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 19:1-12 NIV
When Jesus had finished saying these things, he left Galilee and went into the region of Judea to the other side of the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
3 Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?"
4 "Haven't you read," he replied, "that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' 5 and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? 6 So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
7 "Why then," they asked, "did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?"
8 Jesus replied, "Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. 9 I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery."
10 The disciples said to him, "If this is the situation between a husband and wife, it is better not to marry."
11 Jesus replied, "Not everyone can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it."
