"10 The disciples *said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." 11 But He said to them, "Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For
there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and
there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it."
Marriage takes work, as does living and serving Christ faithfully. It isn't difficult to see that in the church today, that relationship has been corrupted. We have fallen short of God’s ideal plan. That's why I believe that it is so imperative for the church to be proclaiming the truth of God. Having a strong biblical view, taking a strong stand against a corrupt society and perverse culture, is not only unpopular outside the church, but in many cases, even in the church, which has become dominated by Satan's deceptive lies. I proclaim the truth of God, according to the Word of God, and if you find that offensive, your argument is not with me, your argument is with God Himself.
I believe that's why Jesus repeatedly says to the religious leaders of His day, "Have you not read?" In other words, if you don’t like what I’m saying, take it up with God, it is God Who said this. Therefore, it is God that you must approach. When God saves someone, He actually changes them. He gives them a new nature, new affections, new desires, a new life and conformity toward the things of God. True Christians are not resistant to that change. It is by that work in someone we can know who is truly saved.
Beloved, true salvation produces a love for God’s
Word and the desire in your heart to be obedient to Him. That is the
heart of a Christian. The whole purpose of this is that your life would
be transformed into the image of Christ, Who was obedient even unto
death on a cross. If that doesn’t matter to you, there is
no way for you to say with sincerity, to think with clarity that you
belong to the family of God! A person who is living a sinful life with
no sense of conviction, who openly lives in an unbroken pattern of sin reveals they
don’t have God in their heart. Salvation changes the way that you
think, speak and live, the reason that it changes the way that you live
is because God gave you His Spirit, Who has taken up residence in your
life. God, through His Word, is telling you how you can know that you
are a true Christian.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
Father, as always we thank You for Your Word. we come lord, as we study these things, illuminate our minds, help us to examine our lives and if we've been tolerating sin, help us to repent and turn away from it. That we may devote ourselves to Christ, with a fresh understanding. Lord, we pray for those who are struggling in their marriages, who may be contemplating divorce, for those who have already sinned, Lord we ask that by the power of Your great strength, to bring them back and restore their marriages. We pray for those who are contemplating marriage, guide them to make a right decision. Lord, we pray for those who have not yet come to Christ, we pray for Your Spirit to work in their lives. And ask that You grant them forgiveness and save them so that they might become children. We ask and pray that You will be glorified and Christ exalted.
We pray in Jesus' name
Amen
Today's Message: God's Standard For Divorce and Remarriage
"The disciples *said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." But He said to them, "Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given. For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it."
Jesus has been teaching that marriage is a holy covenant before God. The disciples seemed to grasp the severity of words. Let's look at verse 10 to see how the disciples respond. "The disciples *said to Him, "If the relationship of the man with his wife is like this, it is better not to marry." Obviously, the conversation about marriage and divorce has left a tremendous impression on them. So we can assume there was a lot of other discussion about marriage, but we don’t get to hear that conversation, just their response. It would appear that they are actually shocked that Jesus has not extended the Old Testament teaching but reaffirmed it. So they have concluded it’s probably better that someone not get married, that kind of a commitment is just too much. Because if God killed adulterers with the capital punishment that he assigns in Leviticus, there would never be any divorce. I suppose we could say then, that divorce is God's merciful concession the hard and irreconcilable heart. Where there is confession and repentance, there's a place for forgiveness for the adulterer and an adulterous. Divorce is the Greek verb "apoluó," which means to let go; or release, it
implies the annulment of an existing bond.
Much like our society today, the disciples had grown up in a culture where divorce was rampant. They had been taught, if you have a bad wife, divorce her. Quite frankly, Jesus' teaching, reaffirming God's standard of no divorce, must have really provoked their minds and left them struggling. If you marry and you cannot get out of it, to be stuck with a woman that doesn’t make you happy, only her adultery could release you from a miserable marriage, then you would better off never to marry in the first place, I’ll never get married! That's what they are saying.
In our society today, people jump from one relationship to another, because they want the romantic feelings without making any type of lasting commitment. In other words, they've settled for a cheap knock-off, a counterfeit, only to end up alone with nothing but emptiness. They are reflecting a pretty common attitude, many people today, consumed with money and their career, who have that same kind of mentality. Marriage is a covenant relationship between us, our spouse, and God. It is only as we allow God to transform us and empower us, that marriage can be all that God designed it to be. The disciples’ rightly concluded in verse 10 was that success in marriage is impossible.
Jesus responds in verse 11,"But He said to them, "Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom it has been given." In other words, not everyone can handle not being married, celibacy is not for everyone. There are a number of people who become more focused on Jesus’ remark about the eunuchs in the next verse than Jesus' point. We're not going to do that, however, I will briefly touch on the subject when we get to it in just a bit. First, I want to say that I believe we are producing a generation of delusional, narcissistic, self-centered misfits. Lonely and unloved children who grow up to live isolated lives with absolutely no emotional connection. They have no understanding of what it means to identify with another human being. If you are a parent, you better understand this is turning our children into a generation of easily triggered criminals. I don't believe that most parents even understand the lifelong consequences of that. Because of social media, people in our society are becoming more and more disconnected.
Anybody who knows anything about true love, wants to go before the other person because they cannot imagine the loneliness of a life without them. The pain and sorrow my mother endured after losing my dad was more than she could bear, because their two souls were knit together in love, her heart ached as she longed to be where he was. I’ll tell you right now the majority of relationships today are a far cry from that! They devote more time to their careers than they do their families. When you do make that move, make sure you don't get in it with the wrong person. If you meet someone who doesn't share those values, you better back off.
Quite frankly, some of you need to take a good look at yourselves and realize your expectations are completely unreasonable. I don’t know what some of you people are looking for, but you better see
beyond the superficial, airbrushed Hollywood glamor and start looking
for someone with genuine virtues and godly character, with whom you can
share common love for Jesus Christ. If I'm going to be with someone for the rest of my life, I want it with someone with God’s leading and direction. If you stay single, you won’t get into something you can’t get out of, however, not every one can handle singleness, except to those to whom it is given. Being single, you can devote a lot more time to ministry than those who are married. Whether it's married or single, God has a plan for your life. If God is calling you to a life of singleness, embrace that and live for the kingdom of heaven and the glory of God. Not every one should get married.
There are some people who should have been married long ago, that are still single, I believe because they've been looking for the wrong person. Or because they haven't allowed themselves to become the right person. I believe that’s true for most people, they haven't allowed themselves to change from who they are into who they need to become.
Now let look at verse 12, "For
there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and
there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it." Eunuchs are people who are born and the sexual area is either underdeveloped or undeveloped or impotent, therefore they have no capability to function in a sexual way. Then there are some who were chosen out of society to be placed in charge of a harem were castrated and made eunuchs so they couldn't go beyond the boundaries of what they should do. Thirdly, there were some who made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of God's sake. That may keep you in a state of singleness, but it doesn't really solve anything beyond that. In fact, it likely created more issues in dealing with your desires. By the way, Jesus is not promoting castration, mutilation of the body was totally against Jewish law.
Jesus makes a very important statement at the end of verse 12, "He who is able to accept this, let him accept it." Accept what? The gift of celibacy. Believers are to live above the curse, the world, and sin, and try to live life as God intended it.
In Closing..
I've known several men in the clergy, who for appearance sake, remained "single" but who were not celibate. They were just avoiding people discovering they were living a lifestyle that was not acceptable to the denomination. They are not intrinsically more holy than any other sinner, they are equally damned. Scripture makes it clear, that all sins can be forgiven, even the lewd, immoral sexual acts. However, there must be confession, and repentance! That involves a change in going forth with God.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen