I had originally left this out of the previous post. Added it back in when I realized my mistake, but wanted to go ahead and give it its own post as well.

Reasons for Divorce

I want to say a little more on why a husband or wife might decide to divorce his or her spouse.

Scripture does not offer many specific examples. We know in the case of adultery divorce is permitted. And we know from Deuteronomy 24:1-4 that there might be other situations that make divorce permissible. How might a husband or wife decide if a divorce should take place?

First, we recognize that divorce is never mandated in Scripture. Even in the case of adultery, divorce does not have to occur. In the case of adultery, the decision rests with the offended spouse.

But we noted from Deuteronomy that a spouse might divorce for various kinds of indecent behavior, actions that are repugnant to the married life. We also said that abuse is one example. If a man is abusing his wife and/or children, his wife would be justified in divorcing her husband and getting herself and her children to safety. Or if a wife is a drug addict and refuses to give up her addiction, her husband is justified to divorce in order to protect himself and his children from the consequences of drug use. Many other examples of this sort could be given.

The thing to remember is that the offense cannot be casual. The Jews found ways to justify divorce if the wife burned her husband’s breakfast or other similar nonsense. Today a husband might divorce if he wants to marry someone he finds more attractive or appealing. None of these cases involve justified divorce. Similarly, one cannot divorce with the claims of incompatibility. I believe it is sin to divorce for any reasons involving selfish motive or ambition or how one feels about the quality of a marriage.

Divorce is justified if one spouse is chronically engaged in sinful activity that is harmful to the spouse or the children and he or she refuses to repent and turn from his or her sinful actions. A husband or wife may find divorce the last resort, the only way to be protected from spousal sin. Even after divorce reconciliation should be sought, working to lead the sinning spouse to repentance.

Download as PDF: Christians And Divorce

Introduction

In this post I do not intend to give a comprehensive discussion of divorce, though I will cover a lot of ground. On Sunday nights I have been preaching through the Sermon on the Mount and this week we tackle Matthew 5:31-32 where Jesus discusses divorce. Since I will need to preach on divorce, it is a good time to solidify my own understanding of divorce. This post is a sort of dumping ground for my thoughts.

Let me say that I recognize the seriousness and sensitivity of this issue. I do not approach the issue lightly. Many people have experienced a great deal of pain because of divorce. But because it is so serious in society today we must strive all the more to understand what the Bible teaches us about divorce.

Summary

For the 98% of you that will not want to wade through my five seven pages of discussion (Nathan, you have to read it), here is a summary:

Read the rest of this entry »

Shared this one during my sermon this morning. The book of Ephesians summarized… in verse.

Ephesians chapter one, Paul’s only just begun.

He shows us what God’s done through Jesus Christ his Son.

Redemption! We’re set free! With God we’ve harmony!

Ephesians chapter two, by grace, through faith, it’s true!

Dead in your sins were you, but God, he brought us through;

Salvation full and free, Christ paid the price for me!

Ephesians chapter three, we’ve unity, you see!

The cross joined you to me, to show eternally,

The glory, the power, the love, of God Almighty above!

Ephesians chapter four, God’s opened up the door

Given workers to the chore of making something more

Of the people he has called till Christ is all in all!

Ephesians chapter five, to walk like Christ we’ll strive

To put aside all drive of the flesh in our lives.

With bride and groom we see that Christ has cherished me!

Ephesians chapter six, the devil’s evil tricks,

Cannot begin to nix our Lord’s mighty fix!

Put on his armor, saints! Your surety never faints!

Ephesians is God’s gift so we’re not left adrift

But Christ will us uplift and bridge the terrible rift

Thus, as you come and go, serve Christ and in him grow!

HT: Thabiti

Update: And this guy.

Those who sleep in the Lord
Are in His holy arms.

Those who rest in God
Will find Him fully good.

Those who wait in Christ
Will be comforted.

So sleep, my child, in Him.

Picked this up from Frank Turk. We used it with our Christmas reading last year and again this year. A good way to say more from Scripture about Christ. I’ve included the text from Frank Turk with Scripture references added in.

The following comes from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ book Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. As he prepares to discuss Matthew 5:27-30, Lloyd-Jones pauses to discuss sin and evangelism. Below is what he has to say about true and false evangelism.

This doctrine [what sin is], therefore, is absolutely vital in determining our conception of true evangelism. Three is no true evangelism without the doctrine of sin, and without an understanding of what sin is. I do not want to be unfair, but I say that a gospel which merely says, ‘Come to Jesus,’ and offers Him as a Friend, and offers a marvelous new life, without convicting of sin, is not New Testament evangelism. The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the law; and it is because the law has not been preached that we have had so much superficial evangelism. Go through the ministry of our Lord Himself and you cannot but get the impression that at times, far from pressing people to follow Him and to decide for Him, He put great obstacles in their way. He said in effect: ‘Do you realize what you are doing? Have you counted the cost? Do you realize where it may lead you? Do you know that it means denying yourself, taking up your cross daily and following Me?’ True evangelism, I say, because of this doctrine of sin, must always start by preaching the law. This means that we must explain that mankind is confronted by the holiness of God, by His demands, and also by the consequences of sin. It is the Son of God Himself who speaks about being cast into hell. If you do not like the doctrine of hell you are just disagreeing with Jesus Christ. He, the Son of God, believed in hell; and it is in His exposure to the true nature of sin that He teaches that sin ultimately lands men in hell. So evangelism must start with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the demands of the law, the punishment meted out by the law, and the eternal consequences of evil and wrongdoing. It is only the man who is brought to see his guilt in this way who flies to Christ for deliverance and redemption. Any belief in the Lord Jesus Christ which is not based on that is not a true belief in Him. You can have a psychological belief even in the Lord Jesus Christ; but a true belief sees in Him one who delivers us from the curse of the law. True evangelism starts like that, and obviously is primarily a call to repentance, ‘repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.’

I really like Andrew Peterson’s music. And here is one of his great songs set to art:

“Family Man” from Trevor Little on Vimeo.

From The Resurgence, this was being filmed for a Sunday morning service when a homeless man showed up and started singing with them. Amazing. May we be willing to worship on the streets with all who come into our path.

Preacher, how do you put that sermon together?

Over at Founder’s Blog a brief discussion has started on the use of manuscripts in preaching. I almost always use a manuscript during the morning service, an outline during the evening service, and I just pray I have some sort of notes come Wednesday night.

There are pros and cons to each of these methods but most important is what comes before. I thought I’d throw online a copy of some recent notes, showing the basic order of sermon preparation.

I have a file called Sermon Builder I use for most of my sermons. I don’t always follow every step in the file but it provides a great starting point in sermon prep and helps ensure I don’t forget to do anything. The first PDF below contains my translation notes. This was not a complicated passage so the notes are fairly straightforward. The second PDF contains my sermon builder for this passage, Ephesians 5:3-6.

Eph 5.3-6 Translation Notes

Eph 5.3-6 Sermon Notes

My normal process is:

1. Translate
2. Compare translations
3. Notes on author, audience, context, etc. In a series through a book I usually skip most of these notes from week to week, though context notes usually gets something.
4. Outline the passage. I have no set system for doing this, I’ve experimented with a few different approaches to outlining.
5. Find related passages
6. Ask questions of the text
7. Write my own notes
8. Read and gather data from commentaries
9. Sermon outline. Often quite comprehensive. In the notes above, the outline is much shorter than my usual.
10. Sermon manuscript