Welcome to this week's edition of the sermon. I am glad to be able to post this week. I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year.
I have had some problems with the blog. Last week, someone got into my blog and messed it up. I caught it quickly and took the blog down. I've now restored it except for last week's sermon. I hope that this will not be a problem in the future. If it is, I will take down the blog and consider a different medium to get the sermon and messages out. I have an idea, but I don't want to go into that yet.
Monday, I am supposed to start the new job. I am very nervous. Please pray that all will go well and that the Lord's will is done in this matter. My goal is to keep this job for a little while and get the house sold. After that, I would like to move where it is a little warmer. The cold weather this year is really bothering me.
Please pray for those experiencing bad weather throughout the United States. We've had bad snow storms and record setting cold weather.
Pray for those who are homeless that they will be able to find a warm place this year. Pray for an end to homelessness. We need more affordable housing.
Continue to pray for those in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands who still lack power as a result of the hurricanes. Pray that they will receive the aid that they need.
The flu is really bad in my part of the world. I lost a friend to flu a couple of years ago, so its nothing to play around with. Please pray that this flu outbreak ends. I was sick with pneumonia twice last year. It played a role in having to leave my other job. I am hoping I don't get sick again as I've been informed that if I miss even one day during the four week training that it is grounds for dismissal.
Pray for peace in the world. There is so much war and conflict. Pray for peace in Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen and South Sudan. At least North and South Korea are talking, so that is good.
For our prayer focus countries this week let's pray for Botswana and Qatar. Pray that many will hear about the love of Jesus.
Last year, we began a series of messages on the Old Testament book of Malachi. We have made it through Chapter 2 and verse 10. Today, we will cover verses 11 through 16 of chapter 2.
This is a hard section of Scripture for me to deal with. It requires that this text and the whole counsel of God from both the Old and New Testaments be carefully taken into consideration.
As we saw already from our study in Malachi, God is not happy with the people and the way they are treating Him. They have questioned the love of God for them in spite of all that He had done for them. Also, the people were not bringing the acceptable sacrifices to the Lord. The priests were not behaving in an acceptable manner. They all were not treating the Lord with the honor He deserves as the King of the universe.
In our section today, the Lord has another grievance against the people. The Lord is upset with the people first of all because they had married women from the surrounding nations who worshiped idols and did not worship the only true God.
In the Law of Moses, the Lord told the people that they were not to practice this behavior. He told them that if they did this, their hearts would be led astray. This is exactly what happened to Solomon. He took many foreign wives. He then built temples for their gods and goddesses right in Jerusalem. His heart was turned away from serving the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
Nehemiah had to deal with the fact that the people of Israel had married foreign wives and their hearts were being turned away. Nehemiah demanded that the people divorce their foreign wives.
In Malachi, we see that the people had divorced their Jewish wives in order to marry their new wives. God was very much opposed to this. The Lord told the people that He was not going to accept their offerings nor listen to their prayers because they had been unfaithful to the wives of their youth.
In Malachi 2:16 God says, "I hate divorce". These are some very strong words. He told the people to remain loyal to their wives.
Now, this brings us to the entire issue of divorce today. This is difficult for me to write about in some ways because my parents were both divorced. My Mom was married to two other men before she married my Dad. She didn't have any other children except for me. My Dad was married to a woman before my Mom. My Dad had two children with his first wife. My brother and sister are a lot older than I am.
I know that divorce is rampant in western societies today. People get upset when ministers speak about divorce. However, it is clearly and plainly spoken about in the Bible. Jesus Himself spoke about divorce. I will just lay out what I see as the teachings of Jesus and Bible on the matter.
First of all, the Law of Moses permitted divorce. When the Pharisees confronted Jesus on the topic of divorce as recorded in Matthew 19, they brought up the fact that Moses allowed divorce. Jesus told them that the only reason he did that was because the people were so hard hearted. Jesus said that that was not the way things were intended from the beginning. God created male and female to be united together for as long as they lived.
Jesus said in Matthew 19 that there was only one permissible grounds for divorce. Jesus said that sexual immorality was the grounds for divorce. If someone divorced and remarried for any other reason, they were guilty of committing adultery.
Many people today, including Christians, get a divorce for many other reasons. Many people I know have divorced for financial reasons or they say they fell out of love. These are not Biblical grounds for divorce.
I believe that the Bible has one implied reason for divorce and there is one other reason mentioned by the Apostle Paul. I believe that a person has a right to defend themself and their children from abuse. In order to get out of an abusive situation, a divorce may be necessary.
In I Corinthians 7, Paul states that if a Christian in married to an unbeliever, the Christian should stay married as long as the unbeliever remains in the marriage. If the unbeliever leaves of their own accord. The Christian is free from the union.
So, where does this leave us. From my understanding of the Bible, divorce is allowed if someone is being abused, there is sexual immorality or an unbeliever leaves the marriage. In these circumstances, remarriage would be permitted. In other circumstances, Christians are not supposed to get a divorce. For two Christians, the only Biblical grounds would be adultery and abuse.
Some will disagree with me on divorce for abuse. They think that a person in that situation should get a separation and not a divorce. I disagree on this matter.
Now, what about divorce in the church. Divorce is not the unpardonable sin as some people act like it is. If you are divorced for a non Scriptural reason, the Lord will forgive you if you call upon Him and ask Him too. From that point, you move on and try to make the best of any new relationship.
I do believe that the Bible teaches that a person divorced for a non-Scriptural reason is not to be the pastor of a church. When Paul speaks about the elder being the husband of one wife, it is my view that this is a reference to divorce.
I know that this is controversial. I knew a man who had been divorced before he was a Christian. He wanted to be a minister, but the Pentecostal church he attended would not ordain him because he was divorced. He didn't think that was right, but from what I understand of the Bible, the church was correct.
I know that this can be hurtful to people. My Dad got a divorce from his first wife for non-Scriptural reasons. He was not allowed to be a deacon in the church he attended. He felt that since this happened before his conversion, that that wasn't right. He and I disagreed on this.
My mother was divorced on Biblical grounds. However, the church held that against her. One church did not want her to be a Sunday school teacher because she had been divorced. That was not right.
If you've been divorced, don't get down on yourself. Things happen. Life happens. Everyone, especially Christians, just needs to realize that divorce is a serious matter in the eyes of the Lord. Those who are married need to seek the Lord diligently when marital problems arise. If there is a divorce, seek the Lord's forgiveness. Move on in hope striving to do your best in obedience to the Lord from this point on.
Just for full disclosure. I am not married, and I have never been married. I do not intend to get married. I have just tried to present the material today in the way that I believe the Bible teaches.
Next week, the blog will have a different schedule for about one month. During training, I will still post the verses on Monday and the reviews on Wednesday. However, they will appear late in the day. I will have to post them when I get off work. The sermon will appear on Saturdays starting next week. We will continue with our series in Malachi. May God bless you all. Amen.
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