Marriage is a God thing, divorce is a man thing

Mark 10:1-12

(5) Hardness of heart causes divorce

• • Matthew account Jesus gives the reason for divorce

• Matthew 19:7-10

• • 9 we get one of two plausible reasons for divorce in the NT
    • Porneia-sexual sin 
  • 10:”if such is the case of a man with his wife, it better not to marry”
  • Talk about the law and culture then (deuteronomy 24)
  • They didn’t want to give that up, they were hard hearted
    • It was a response to the rampant adultery, Moses drew a line
  • They were not viewing marriage through the lense of its beauty and God ordained nature, instead it was an unserious thing that could be thrown away like a child’s toy two weeks after christmas…
• This frivelous, unserious view of marriage hasn’t changed
  • Pop culture views it unserious (90 day fiance, married at first site)
  • Sex in the context of marriage is almost never a pre-requisite in cinema or in our culture today
  • Divorce certainly has more of the, put away for any reason feel than the one described by Jesus

(6-9) God has ordained and blessed marriage

• • From the beginning
    • God intended marriage from the beginning
  • What God has joined together
    • God is a the force behind marriage
      • This is also why God is to be the glue, the center of the marriage
  • Lets read this account from the beginning and the first marriage
  • Genesis 1:27-28, 2:18, 2:21-25
  • What are some ways that God has used marriage to bless us and make us fruitful?
    • 1) Marriage brings us the blessing and fruitfulness of children
      • Psalms 127:3-5 3Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. 5Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame, when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
    • 2) Marriage brings us the blessing of intimacy

• Proverbs 5:15-21

• • • 3) Marriage is the staging ground for the fruitful blessed life of sanctification
      • Talk about 50% of commands are loving others
        • Marriage allows you to practice that
        • Half of the works of the flesh and opportunities for sanctification happen in the context of marriage:
          • The taming of the tongue
          • The abstaining of sexual immorality (by indulging in it 🙂
          • Epehesians 4:26-32  be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger
          • 4:29 let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up…that it may give grace to those who hear

• 4:31-32

• • • • • For many, it is easier to love others when you can control how often you have to interact with them, but when your married…you wake up to them cada dia.  This is the blessed fruitfullness of sanctification in marriage

Marriage displays the beauty of the Gospel

• Ephesians 5:22-33

• • • Jesus models what marriage looks like, by the way He loves the church, saves the church, presents the church to himself as the bride of Christ
      • Jesus represents the husband, and the church represents the wife
        • Understand, that in this picture Jesus is unique and although the husband represents Christ
        • Just as Jesus loves the church and does xyz for the church, that is what our marriage should aspire to
    • It is two becoming one
    • Same way, Jesus becomes one with His church, he sanctifies His church, He marries His church
  • The mystery
    • This mystery is profound–christ and the church
    • We put that on display in our marriages
    • People should look at the ________, the ______________, the ____________ and see beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ in making us His own and becoming one with Him.
    • And they are looking…will they see something different, a unique fruitfullness and unique blessedness or will they just see something else…
  • The gospel
    • Don’t forget to give them the gospel in this passage

• Isaiah 54:5-6 **praise team and final scripture**

Sermon Notes on Mark 10:1-12

Jesus opposed divorce because…