The Gospel of Mark

Rebuilding Broken Homes (Mark 10:5-9) Part 2

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Rebuilding Broken Homes

Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage from the Gospel of Mark 10:5-9, part 2

 

DIVORCE! One shepherd wrote these words. “The mere mention of the word carries a huge weight of sorrow, loss, tragedy, disappointment, anger, regret and guilt. Few things are more painful than divorce. It cuts to the depths of personhood unlike any other relational gash. Death is usually a clean pain. Divorce is usually unclean pain. The enormous loss of a spouse in death is compounded in divorce by the ugliness of sin and the moral outrage at being so wronged. Divorce is often long years in coming, long years in settlement and longer years in adjustment. The upheaval of life is immeasurable. The sense of failure, guilt and fear can torture a soul.”

Like the Psalmist said in 6:6, night after night a spouse falls asleep with tears, work performance is hindered. People don’t know how to relate to you anymore, and friends start to withdraw. You can feel like you wear a big scarlet “D” on your chest. The loneliness is not like the loneliness of being a widow or a widower, or a person who has never been married. It is in a class by itself (which is one reason why so many divorced people find each other).

A sense of devastated future can be all-consuming. Courtroom controversy compounds the personal misery. Then there is often the agonizing place of children. Parents hope against hope that the scars will not cripple the children, or ruin their future marriages someday. Tensions over custody and financial support deepen the wounds. Then the awkward and artificial visitation rights can lengthen the tragedy for decades. And this happens to three out of every ten couples in America today.

Yet in the midst of this pain, our Lord brings hope. As we exposit Mark 10 (turn there, and take out the outline in your bulletin), our Lord Jesus brings clarity to divorce, marriage, remarriage—and even singleness. If you’re single, you might think like the disciple did in Matthew 19:10, “If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry.” If you’re married, you’ll be so motivated by God’s exalted design for marriage, you’ll refuse to consider divorce as an option. If you’re divorced or have been affected by divorce, you’ll grow to love God’s heart for marriage, follow His direction for the divorced, and embrace His plan for you.

Last week, we exposited the first four verses of chapter 10. Do you remember where Jesus is?

#1  The CIRCUMSTANCES for CLARIFICATION on Divorce  Verse 1

Read verse 1, “Getting up, He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them.” The Lord has left Galilee, went to Judea for six months, and now, just before He heads to His death for our sins on a cross in Jerusalem, He invests some final time in Peraea, on the east side of the Jordan.

Large Jewish settlements and pilgrims heading to Jerusalem for the Passover have caused great crowds to surround Christ as He teaches them, and also heals them. But their location has created a unique opportunity for the Pharisees to set a trap for Jesus.

#2  The CONFRONTATION over the QUESTION of DIVORCE  Verse 2

Mark 10:2, “Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife.” Divorce was very common amongst first century Jews, yet the Pharisees knew Jesus did not condone divorce, except for adultery, cause Jesus already declared Himself in the Sermon on the Mount. So those religious leaders test the Lord to make Him publicly declare His position on divorce, which might cause all the divorcées, and those who support divorce to resent Him.

Plus, if they can get the Lord to openly reject easy divorce, it might get Jesus in trouble with Herod Antipas who rules over Peraea. Herod had unbiblically divorced his wife in order to marry His brother’s wife, Herodias, who then unbiblically divorced her husband in order to marry Herod Antipas. John the Baptist had openly confronted their wicked marriage, and it led to John’s beheading. The Pharisees are hoping that by getting Jesus to openly confront easy divorce, that Herod Antipas might also behead Jesus over the same issue. It was a devious trap, but Jesus does what we should do when asked a cunning question.

#3  CLARIFYING the true AUTHORITY on DIVORCE  Verses 3 to 4

Mark 10:3, “And He answered and said to them, ‘What did Moses command you?’” Answer the question with the Word of God–what does the Bible say? What did God actually command you to do through Moses? Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, is actually the one who inspired Moses to write a command with regard to divorce–but the rabbis messed it up, misquoted it, and misused it.

So our Lord goes after these so-called experts of Old Testament Law with a clarifying question. The Pharisees found an Old Testament passage which they manipulated in such a way as to justify divorce for any reason. They manipulated and misinterpreted Deuteronomy 24. Their response to Jesus is recorded in verse 4, “They said, ‘Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.’”

The Pharisees are not interested in God’s divine design–they’re not interested in one man and one woman as one for life. They want to change their wives like they change their clothes. So they needed an Old Testament passage to help them justify divorce, and there’s only one. They camped on the one passage where Moses gave a command. But they actually manipulated the passage, missing God’s intended meaning.

So turn to Deuteronomy 24, and as you do, understand their confusion. There were so many interpretations on divorce from the rabbis that the Scripture itself had been lost in people’s minds. Plus the Old Testament was written in scrolls, and the people didn’t have personal copies of the Word of God–no Bibles. So believers typically didn’t interpret the Scripture on their own, but they had to depend on the rabbis.

The rabbis held two main views on divorce, and both views misinterpreted Deuteronomy 24. One unpopular view was that you could only divorce if there was adultery, and the more popular view said you could divorce for any reason, with any person, at any time. Tune in and own this fact about Deuteronomy 24–there is no command on divorce in verses 1 to 3. They are merely describing an actual situation that’s occurring—no commands. The only command occurs in verse 4, which orders believers not to remarry an unbiblically divorced woman. The command in Hebrew is in verse 4 about remarriage, not divorce.

Now read verses 1 to 4 with that in mind. Deuteronomy 24:1 to 4, “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 indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house, 2 and she leaves his house and goes and becomes another man’s wife, 3 and if the latter husband turns against her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.”

God is not commanding men to divorce their wives over an indecency in verse 1, but God is commanding the Jews not to remarry a wife, verse 4, who has been divorced from a husband, married to another man, then divorced again. Moses commands that you can’t take her back now, even though you’ve just realized she really was the love of your life. God’s command here is to stop the proliferation of divorce. God’s command in Deuteronomy 24 is about remarriage, and is in no way commanding or approving of divorce.

So get this—both views on divorce from the rabbis in Jesus’ day misinterpreted Deuteronomy 24:1 to 4. The conservative rabbis, those who said divorce could only happen if there was adultery, interpreted Deuteronomy 24:1 as referring to adultery–see it? “Because he has found some indecency in her”—now remember in the Old Testament Law, adultery was punishable by death, not divorce. Moses is not talking about adultery here. The word “indecency” does not mean “adultery”. The liberal rabbis, who said “divorce for anything,” wrongly interpreted Deuteronomy 24:1 as a command to divorce.

So when Jesus asked them what Moses actually commanded them in Mark 10:3, they answered Jesus incorrectly in verse 4. Look at their errant interpretation in Mark 10:4. They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” The Pharisees said, “See, there it is, Jesus–Moses commands divorce, and you can send your wife away for any indecency!” What is any indecency? The liberal rabbis concluded indecency is anything you want it to be. The word indecency became a blank check for divorce. But The Hebrew word “indecency” actually (literally) means nakedness. And because Moses uses the exact word in the previous chapter, in Deuteronomy 23:13-14, referring to human defecation, indecency is describing some shameful actions that are short of adultery.

Moses is stating a fact in Deuteronomy 24–the Old Testament Jews were divorcing their wives for some shameful infractions short of adultery. As time progressed, the liberal rabbis concluded that indecency in Deuteronomy 24 could be referring to a wife going around with loose hair, spinning around so other men could see her ankles, talking to another man, or being unkind to her mother-in-law, or speaking so loud to her husband that their neighbors might hear—indecent. If she does that, and it displeases you, that’s indecent, so give her a piece of paper and send her away–#shegone!

But that is not what Deuteronomy 24 means. A careful reading of the Deuteronomy 24 text shows that far from commanding divorce, Moses was giving a command with regard to a particular case of remarriage. Deuteronomy 24 neither commends nor condemns the reason nor procedure for the divorce mentioned in those four verses. It states the reason was “indecency,” without detailing what that might involve. Then it mentions the giving of a certificate of divorce, without commenting on whether it was right or wrong.

The only command in the passage relates to the issue of remarriage which, simply stated, if a divorced woman remarries, and her new husband divorces her or dies, her first former husband who sent her away, is not allowed to take her again to be his wife, since she has been defiled–that’s an abomination. The Pharisees missed the point of the text–they saw it as Moses giving a command to divorce your wife because of indecency–which some wrongly said meant adultery, and others wrongly said it meant anything from burning the toast or talking too loudly.

The actual command of Deuteronomy 24 is about the wrongful remarriage to a woman who was divorced over some indecent less than adulterous issue. Because the penalty for adultery was death, the indecency mentioned here obviously referred to some kind of sexual looseness or lewdness that came short of adultery. But that indecency, vile as it might have been, was not sufficient grounds for divorce–and as a result the divorced wife was defiled by her remarriage and she could not be taken back by her first husband after she remarried, then divorced her second husband.

Because her divorce to her first husband had no sufficient grounds, it was invalid, resulting in her becoming a defiled adulteress when she marries again. That is why John the Baptist declared that Herod Antipas and Herodias were living in adultery. In God’s sight, she was still “the wife of his brother, Philip.” Divorce goes against God’s Word. Deuteronomy 24 is a very good preventative principle–this is so men do not say, “I think I’d like to try another wife for a few months, and if I don’t like her, I’ll take my first wife back.” You can’t do that–once you divorce your wife, it’s assumed she’ll marry someone else–because in that culture, women needed to be provided for. And when she does, there’s no having her back.

God wants to stop divorce, yet today we have internet divorce lawyers. So you’d better think long and hard about giving away the wife of your youth, giving away the original love of your life, giving away the mother of your children, giving away your family. You better think soberly about that, because once she marries another man, you can never have her back. That’s the only command in Deuteronomy 24–it’s not a command to divorce, it’s a command not to remarry a woman that you’ve divorced who has now married someone else. Divorce goes against God’s Word.

Again, Jesus goes for the throat in verse 3–what did Moses command? The Pharisees viewed Deuteronomy 24 as a command (which it wasn’t) from Moses, saying divorce her for anything indecent–which later (in Jesus’ day) morphed into divorce your wife for anything you don’t like. But that is not what that passage teaches. Verses 1, 2 and 3 are not Hebrew commands. They got the Old Testament passage wrong–they misinterpreted the Bible, they manipulated God’s Word, and got an “F” on their TC exam. They abused the Word of God. Many of your friends will do the same when they seek a divorce–they will misuse the Bible. You need to stand firm on what it says.

The command was not about divorce, but the command was you can’t remarry when you divorce over these minor infractions. It was not even a permission to divorce. It was a command not to remarry an illegitimately divorced woman. God hates divorce, because it proliferates adultery. The Pharisees wrongly said Moses commanded it, but divorce goes against God’s Word. Some Pharisees wrongly said Moses permitted it–he did not. No, God hates it, and verse 5 tells us why it still happens.

#4  The real CAUSE God allowed divorce at all  Verse 5

Look at verse 5, “But Jesus said to them, ‘Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.’” Jesus’ answer is, “Look, the commandment that Moses did give recognizes the hardness of your heart–divorce is going to happen because you have a hard heart.” The Greek word is sklerokardia–you have sclerosis of the heart. It describes being stiff-necked against God’s desire for holiness.

The commandment is not to divorce, because you can’t ever take her back. It’s not for you to divorce over anything you deem as indecent behavior. In Deuteronomy 24, God through Moses is trying to stop you from divorcing. God said through Moses in Deut 24:4 that divorce was defiling, an abomination, and a sin before the Lord. And the only reason there’s any concession at all–the only reason Moses even talks about these issues is because He knows how hardhearted you are. That’s the reality.

They were unfeeling, uncaring, and indifferent of heart. Their relationship with God became hard and rule-driven, which resulted in their relationship with others being hard and rule-driven. And it all started in the garden in Genesis 3. Turn to Genesis 3–how could the Pharisees have such comfort with divorce? How did God’s perfect design of marriage get so corrupted? There is a tragic reality working in all human relationships, which is intensified in marriage, which all started at the fall.

Genesis 3 records the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, corrupting every human being ever born with a nature which wants to sin. God pronounces curses on the man and the woman as a result of their choice to sin in verses 17 to 19. The man is cursed in his work, and the woman is cursed in her domain, children and her husband. With her husband, in verse 16, at the end of the verse it says, “Your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you.”

On the surface, that doesn’t sound like a curse–it almost sounds like you’d say “that’s the way it’s supposed to be. I’m supposed to desire my husband, and he’s supposed to lead me.” No, that’s not the curse. “Your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you”–it’s not talking about romantic attraction to your husband, like Jean is to me. How could she not be? I make it so easy, lucky girl.

Nor is verse 16 about a husband’s normal sense of responsibility to protect, provide and care for his wife. No, this is a curse. “He will rule over you.” The Hebrew word means to be installed in an office–to elevate to an official position. Here’s the curse–your husband is now installed as ruler over you, to subdue you. Wow! Once (pre-fall) you were together as a team–he was first and you were his helper. You were to be fruitful and multiply, you were to tend to the garden, you were to rule over the creation as co-regents together in perfect harmony. Now (post-fall) it’s not going to work that way. He will be installed into an authoritarian position, but it wasn’t intended to be that way.

And your desire shall be for your husband. What’s that mean? The word “desire” is only used one other time in the Pentateuch. Look at Genesis 4:7–God is speaking to Cain, and in the middle of the verse, “Sin is crouching at the door, so sin has a desire for you but you must master it.” That’s exactly the same term, “desire”, from Genesis 3:16, telling us sin wants to control you, but you have to master it.

In the curse, “she” (the wife) wants to control you, but you have to master her. That’s exactly what Moses is saying. The curse is this–there’s going to be a battle in the house. Today we know it as the conflict between women’s liberation and male chauvinism. As a wife seeks to be independent, dominant, wanting her will, and pressing for her way, the husband will try to control the revolt with ungracious, unkind and dominating attitudes. Both are fallen, and this is why a marriage can get ugly. That is the conflict that leads to divorce.

For some, it feels easier to end the marriage–get it over with. I don’t like her anymore. I don’t like him anymore. I don’t want to live with that spouse. Plus, I just met someone better at work or at the gym. So Jesus, here in verse 5, is saying to them–the hardness of heart goes back to the very beginning. So it’s because of sin and what it does to the heart–that there are these warnings in the Law about divorce.

Whenever a Christian initiates an unbiblical divorce, it’s always because he’s hardened his heart against God. But even in our sin and fallenness, God has a better plan. God hates divorce–He never commanded divorce, and His original design of one man, one woman, one for life is perfect and can be enjoyed by turning to Him in salvation, then relying upon Him 24/7 and following His plan. You can’t love unselfishly on your own–you must turn to Christ. What’s His plan?

#5  The CALCULATED design of God for marriage, not divorce  Verses 6 to 9

Read verses 6 to 9, “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female 7 For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, 8 and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 ‘What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.’” By quoting from Genesis 1:27 and 2:24, Jesus was saying, “Your argument is not with Me, who you consider a rabbi–your argument is with God and His Word.” The Lord’s words must have stung the proud, self-righteous Pharisees, who considered themselves to be the supreme authority on Scripture. But as Jesus lays this out, He describes His original blueprint for marriage. So God’s perfect design for marriage was to be . . .

First  EXCLUSIVE  Verse 6

Verse 6, “But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.” The “but”, “but from the beginning” contrasts their selfish view of marriage with God’s higher plan for marriage, which was from the beginning–the original blueprint for marriage began at creation. God created men and women, not like animals, but in His image, as the crown of His creation. And just as God is inseparably one, so the husband and wife in marriage are to be one being who cannot be divided.

Dividing Jean and I should be like trying to cut off my arm–we’re to be exclusively one. Look at verse 6, quoting Genesis 1:27. In the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:27, both male and female are in the emphatic position, giving the sense of “the one male and the one female”–like one Adam and one Eve, exclusively for each other. God did not create a group of males and a group of females who could pick and choose mates as it suited them—no, it’s exclusive. There’re no spares, extras or alternate species to choose from. Elephant? Too big. Giraffes? Too tall. Lion? Too hungry. Gorilla? Maybe . . . no, God’s plan was one male for one female as one for life. There is no provision for multiple or alternate spouses.

There was only one man and one woman in the beginning–and for that very obvious reason, divorce and remarriage is not an option. Marriage is exclusive and specific–God chooses your mate. Matthew 19 says God joins you together with your spouse. And what God has joined together, let no man separate. Singles, before the wedding vow and marriage bed union, I don’t know who God’s choice is for you. But I guarantee you, the moment you vow, “I do,” that’s the one. God’s blueprint for marriage also involves . . .

Second  LOYALTY  Verse 7

Verse 7, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother.” Since Adam and Eve had no parents to leave, the leaving of father and mother was a principle to be applied to all future generations. The marriage relationship is designed by God to be closer than the parent/child relationship. Husbands and wives are one for life, but they must be prepared to divorce their children. God intends for them to leave and begin their own family. The word leave is a harsh term–it means abandon, leave behind, neglect, forsake, even intentionally forget (ouch).

I can’t tell you the number of marriages ruined by a spouse who won’t unplug their umbilical cord from mom or dad, or by the parents who won’t let go and leave the new couple alone. Yes, they must honor parents and love parents, but they do not obey you any longer once married. And they must leave their father and mother and be loyal to each other first above all. Mark leaves off the word cleave, but you know it from Genesis 2:24–leave and then cleave. The Hebrew word cleave refers to a strong bonding together using glue, cement or welding. You’d say to your spouse, I am stuck on you, like Huey Lewis.

Job used “cleave” to talk about his bones clinging to his flesh. Ruth used “cleaved” to describe her commitment to Naomi. The men of Judah used “cleave” to talk about their loyalty to David. And the Israelites used “cleave” to describe their loyalty to God expressed in their obedience. God’s design for marriage always involves a loyal commitment of a husband and wife to each other and to God Himself. Therefore, stop all behavior that undermines loyalty. Don’t do anything that might cause your spouse to question loyalty, like harsh words in disagreements, a husband’s addiction to pornography, a woman’s indifference to intimacy, flirtation with another person, any emotional attraction or imaginings about anyone else. (Be loyal.) And pursue God’s design for . . .

Third  INSEPARABLE-NESS  Verse 8

Verse 8, “and the two shall become one flesh, so they are no longer two, but one flesh.” The third reason Jesus gives for divorce not being in God’s plan is that in marriage, the two become one flesh. The Greek word for two here is duo, and one means single unit. Marriage is to be a single unit–not your money and mine, but ours. Not your time and my time, but our time–not I and me, but us and we.

As Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 7:4, spouses belong to each other, especially expressed in the physical relationship of marriage. “The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” When a man and woman are joined in marriage, they are no longer two, but one flesh. They are indivisible and inseparable, except through death–so they are no longer two, but one flesh.

In God’s eyes, they become the total possession of each other—one in mind and spirit, in goals and direction, in emotion and will. Then when they have a child, that kid becomes the perfect emblem and demonstration of their oneness, because that child is a unique product of the fusion of two people into one flesh, and carries the combined traits of both parents. Remember, intimacy does not make you married, it is a vow and a union together. And like the vow, the intimacy of one flesh illustrates a couple’s inseparableness. Marriage isn’t a business partnership that may be dissolved at will, but a union of two lives, now fused into one. And finally, God designed marriage as . . .

Fourth  A TREASURED GIFT FROM GOD  Verse 9

The conclusion of why you should not get divorced is verse 9, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” Divorce isn’t God’s design, because every marriage itself is made in heaven. From the very first marriage of Adam and Eve, God has joined together every husband and wife. Marriage is first of all God’s institution. Marriage is God’s doing, regardless of how people today may corrupt it, deny, belittle it or disregard His part in it. Whether it is between faithful believers or between rank pagans–whether it was arranged by the parents or by mutual consent, marriage as a general social relationship is the plan of God for the procreation, pleasure, and the preservation of the race.

Whether it is entered into wisely or foolishly, sincerely or insincerely, selfishly or unselfishly, with great or little commitment, God’s design for every marriage is to be permanent until the death of one of the spouses–a death not arranged by the other spouse. God engineered a husband and wife to complement, support and give joy to each other, through the mutual commitment of the marriage bond. It’s by God’s divine hand they are created to fulfill each other, encourage each other, strengthen each other, and produce children as fruit of their love for each other.

Whether they recognize it or not, every couple who has enjoyed the companionship, happiness, and fulfillment of marriage has experienced the miraculous blessing of God. There is no good thing in marriage that is not derived from Christ. No child can be conceived by the procreative act of a man and woman who is not first conceived by the creative act of God. Every marriage and every child is a creation of God. Therefore, divorce and abortion share this tragically evil common denominator–they kill a creation of God. To destroy a marriage is to destroy a creation of Almighty God.

Verse 9, “What therefore God has joined together,” Jesus warned, “let no man separate.” The word separate is from chōrizō, which in the context of marriage always carried the idea of divorce, not simply temporary separation. It is translated “leave” in 1 Corinthians 7:10, where Paul is clearly speaking of divorce. Jesus’ point is that marriage is always the work of God, whereas divorce is always the work of man, and no man–whoever he is, or wherever he is, or for whatever reason he may have has the right to separate what God has joined together.

A pagan husband and wife who divorce break God’s law, just as surely as believers who divorce. In the ultimate sense, every marriage is ordained of God and every divorce is not. At best, divorce and remarriage is only permitted by the Lord, never commended and certainly never commanded, as some contemporary rabbis taught. To claim, as some professing Christians do, that the Lord led them out of a marriage is to lie and make God a liar. So consider these truths . . .

A  God HATES divorce, and His children should feel the same way

Although Jesus here mentions only Genesis 1:27 and 2:24, in Mark 10, the Old Testament is filled with other teachings about the sanctity and permanence of marriage. Two of the Ten Commandments–the one against the physical act of adultery in Exodus 20, and the one against coveting a neighbor’s wife, which is the mental act of adultery, specifically protect the divine sanctity of marriage.

Adultery was such a heinous sin, its punishment was death in Leviticus 20–telling us God made no legal provision for divorce. Adultery could bring the end of a marriage, but it ended the marriage by execution, not divorce. If Christ were here this AM, He’d tell you He hates divorce. Malachi 2:16, “For I hate divorce,” says the Lord. If you love Him, you will hate what He hates.

B  Pursue developing a ONE spouse heart

A character quality of maturity and godliness for singles and marrieds is to become a one-woman man (and a one-man woman). First Timothy 3:2, “An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife.” First Timothy 3:12, “Deacons must be husbands of only one wife.” Both verses speak to being a one-woman man.

As a single, if and when you pursue a potential spouse, you do so one at a time. As a married, you pursue your spouse and no other. Stop encouraging/allowing for separate lives as marrieds. Stop avoiding the difficult discussions which will help oneness. Always think in terms of your spouse–of us and we. Maturity is manifested in a heart that focuses on one spouse and no one else. Are you lovingly stuck on your spouse alone?

C  Divorce is easy, but a Godly marriage requires WORK

Relationships are difficult and messy, and marriage is the most intimate relationship and requires the greatest amount of work. But God gave us resources–do you have them? Coming to Christ allows you to experience freedom from sin. Depending on God’s Spirit empowers you to love, listen, give, share, be intimate–even adore an indifferent or difficult spouse.

But it will not come naturally–naturally is the flesh, my strength. You must turn to Christ in salvation, and depend on His Spirit in sanctification in order to experience His strength in marriage. Ephesians 1 to 3 is salvation, Ephesians 5:18 is filling. Then comes God’s instruction on marriage. That is not to say you can coast–you never can. Dependently, you must engage your will and intentionally make time, sacrifice, serve, care for needs and more. Do you know Christ, and are you dependent upon the Spirit?

D  When is divorce actually an OPTION?

Is it ever right, allowable, possible, for a Christian to divorce? Is it when the marriage experiences harsh words, addiction to porn, indifference, no intimacy, an addiction to drugs, verbal abuse, physical abuse, flirting with others, financial ruin, the kids have left the home, the kids are the focus, a career is everything? When is it biblically allowable for a Christian to divorce?

Join Jesus and His men in a living room for a private discussion as He explains His heart on that question next week. Let’s pray!

 

About Chris Mueller

Chris is the teaching pastor at Faith Bible Church - Murrieta.

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