Our Marriages, Singleness and Parenting

[0:00] Please take your Bibles and turn to Matthew's Gospel. Matthew chapter 19. Matthew chapter 19. If you're visiting with us, take that black Bible in the chair in front of you.

[0:18] Go to the back. They renumber the New Testament. So you go to the back and find page 16. Matthew chapter 19, verse 3.

[0:37] Matthew chapter 19, verse 3. We're gonna do verses 3 through 15 this morning. Matthew 19, 3 through 15. Again, page 16 in that black Bible.

[0:52] So let me read and then we'll dive in. Matthew chapter 19, verse 3. And Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, Is it lawful a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?

[1:11] And answering he said, Have you not read that he who created from the beginning made them male and female? And said for this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh?

[1:24] Therefore, they are no longer two but one flesh. So what God has joined together, let no man separate. They said to him, Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?

[1:39] He said to them, Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, but I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for fornication and marries another woman commits adultery.

[2:00] 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 accept this statement, but those to whom has been given.

[2:13] 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 eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.

[2:26] He was able to accept, let him accept. Then children were brought to him so that he might lay his hands on them and pray, and the disciples rebuked them.

[2:38] But Jesus said, Let the children alone, and don't hinder them from coming to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. And laying his hands on them, he left there.

[2:49] You've probably heard this many times before.

[3:01] I'll try and mimic this as best as possible. For limousine only, a house does not include garage. Actual landscape around house is different. Top track speed, always if I'm going to see what it involves, to a Ferrari or V10+.

[3:13] Another one. 2019 Chevy Trax, $15,900 sale price, offered based on $20,065 minus RP, includes $2,500 factory rebate, $1,000 bonus cash, $750 GM financial down payment, assistance with a GM financial with approved credit.

[3:29] Whew. I can't do that as fast as they do, right? You know what I'm talking about, right? You know, all the car commercials. You know, they're doing the car commercials, like, come on, it's this, and this.

[3:39] Right? One article about these commercial ads for cars, they say this.

[3:51] We hear them every day. Well, sort of. Those disclaimers at the end of their automotive commercials, some that are read so fast and so low, nobody can really understand them.

[4:03] But those provisos, right? Those caveats, they need to be said because they're truthful. They actually require, I think, is it the FCC?

[4:17] They make, they have to say this to you because they're truthful. Now, it doesn't say how they say it to you, what they tell you. But they say it so fast because they really don't want you to know the truth, right?

[4:34] She's saying, probably in your mind, why in the world is he bringing this up? Why? Matthew's gospel driving force theme is bow down and worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel.

[4:51] And today, we're gonna see how we bow down and worship Jesus in our marriages, in singleness, and in parenting. And as we start on this very sensitive subject, I need to give you my provisos, my caveats, if you will.

[5:21] So there's a title, In Our Marriages, Singleness, and Parenting. Those are how we can split it up, the three parts in the passage. We're worshiping Jesus in our marriages, worshiping Jesus in singleness, worshiping Jesus in parenting.

[5:33] But first, my caveats, my provisos. Number one, as we go through this, focus on where God has you now, not the past.

[5:45] Why do I say that? Because we'll go through this passage, you might say, I've been divorced.

[5:59] And you live in the what ifs. What if I, or in the should haves. Should have, could have, would have. If only I could have. We just can't live our lives that way.

[6:15] We can't. It would drive us, it would drive you crazy. We don't live in the what ifs. Are you married now?

[6:28] Be faithful to Jesus and that spouse right now. That's what Christ wants. Divorce is never good.

[6:39] It's painful. It's hard. It's just all around bad. It hurts. And for some of you, it's painful. Which leads to my next proviso.

[6:54] First, focus on where God has you now, not the past. Second, God feels your pain and so do I. For some of you, divorce ripped out your heart.

[7:09] So Jesus doesn't say these things flippantly. And no matter how long it's been, it's painful to think about the details.

[7:20] But Jesus doesn't say these things abruptly. And with no care or concern for you. Don't think that. Don't think that. God feels your pain.

[7:34] God's grace is sufficient. And he's right there with you, helping you and keeping you. So remind yourself of that. Provide those.

[7:47] Focus on where God has you now. Second, God feels your pain. I just have three. Here's a third one.

[8:00] This is a tissue issue, not a primary issue. What do I mean by that? In other words, it's not a main doctrine within Scripture. If you have different views on divorce, you're not gonna go to hell.

[8:18] I guarantee you of that. If you believe Jesus is created, we have a problem. If you believe Jesus didn't die on a cross, we have a problem. If you have different views on divorce, it's a tissue issue.

[8:33] It's not even a secondary issue. It should even, churches shouldn't even be different as to how they view this. It happens, I know. But it's not even a secondary issue. It's definitely not a primary. It's not even a secondary issue that separates churches like baptism, Lord's Supper.

[8:46] That separates churches. You're like, hey, I love you, but I can't go to that church. That's okay. That's cool. I'm down with it. It's a secondary issue. But it's a tissue issue. One needs to look at, too, even the three main views on divorce, and then you hold your view delicately and gently.

[9:07] Not in bitterness. Not with, I told you so. Not like that. So there's two, three, even, views on divorce.

[9:18] One, there's no grounds for divorce at all. That's the first view. Second, divorce may happen only if there's adultery. Third, divorce may happen only if there's adultery and desertion.

[9:30] Desertion from 1 Corinthians 7. And there's other reasons why people get divorced. I'm not saying that's not true, but in terms of Scripture, what Scripture delineates itself, those are the three main views.

[9:43] So wherever you land, it's a tissue issue. In other words, we can choose to disagree within a local church. At least you should be able to because we hold our views in grace.

[9:59] You know, it's quite interesting. It's striking, actually. On the heels of Jesus speaking about humility and hospitality towards each other within God's church, wrapped in, remember, the tortilla of forgiveness.

[10:19] Remember we talked about that? That's chapter 18. Humility and hospitality wrapped in the tortilla of forgiveness. Jesus teaches on marriage.

[10:30] Interesting, isn't it? Jesus believed, or believes, marriage was, is, sacred.

[10:43] It should be held up in a high, honorable regard. And our passage, as we look at this, it doesn't tell us why he holds this view.

[10:54] It just tells us that he holds a view about divorce. We find out later, by Paul, the reason for Jesus' view on divorce and on marriage and how he held marriage high because marriage reflects God's relationship with his people.

[11:14] That's the reason why. Now, we're not going to get into that today, necessarily. But if you want to, just go to Ephesians chapter 5. Paul tells you the reason why marriage was instituted because it's a picture of the relationship between Jesus and his bride.

[11:34] Jesus, the husband, and his bride, the church, his people. That's why there's marriage. It depicts that. Today, our culture, our world, has a low, truncated, flippant view of marriage.

[11:59] Divorce is rampant when feelings go away. I just don't love you anymore. Love is just mere feelings. That's it.

[12:09] Even in the church, marriage is at times not honored. Divorce is high among God's people too.

[12:20] We've lost the vital importance of marriage and we've allowed our culture to influence us negatively, to infiltrate into us as a church, as a church as a whole.

[12:32] Here is this last, the beginning of the last narrative discourse block section of Matthew's gospel and a big portion of it is devoted to Jesus training his disciples and you'll see Jesus' disciples had a low view of marriage.

[12:56] They had a low view of parenting even. You see, they come out in the passage. He's training them.

[13:07] He would teach them the true meaning about marriage, how significant it was and God's intention from Genesis and how vital and sacred marriage is.

[13:20] Jesus valued the family, marriage and parenting. Look, to break down and destroy a society, our culture declares war on the family.

[13:31] First, marriage, marriage, then parenting. If marriage and also parenting is minimized and truncated, then societal destruction is achieved. Guaranteed.

[13:45] That's why the attack is upon parenting. That's why the attack from our culture is on marriage. marriage. And that's why it's so vital for us as Christians, as churches, to honor marriage in the way it should be honored.

[14:03] And most of the passage deals with marriage. I mean, a large section of this deals with marriage. We have one verse that deals with singleness and what three verses, 13, 14, 15, that deals with parenting.

[14:16] It's vital for us as churches to honor marriage and to honor parenting. So, bow down and worship Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel. First, number one, in our marriages. The bulk of this, verse 3 through 11, which most of this message is going to be on this because Jesus deals most of his time with this.

[14:35] Look at verse 3. Pharisees came to him testing him. They weren't asking him just to learn from Jesus but to destroy him and reveal how he contradicts Moses and how, basically, you want to show he was an idiot.

[14:52] This would destroy his reputation even more and yet it would backfire on them. Notice their question. Is a lawful man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?

[15:06] Now, understand the historical background of why they're asking this question. In Judaism, in Judaism, a man had a right to divorce his wife but the wife had no right to divorce her husband.

[15:22] Jesus would deal with this unfairness towards women by attacking the two schools. There was two views on marriage within Pharisaic teaching. First was the Hillel.

[15:36] You can divorce for any reason. The second was the Shammai only for adultery. Hillel, they said, if you saw a prettier woman, you can divorce her.

[15:48] That's how loose they were with their view of marriage, of divorce and remarriage. The Shammai had a very stricter view only for adultery.

[15:59] So this was a trap. It was. Because, because Jesus would end up offending one or the other. If he went with that side, if he went with this side, he'd offend, see?

[16:14] But they had to run for the money. Because look at what Jesus says, verses 4, 4, 5, and 6. Verse 4, answering, he said, have you not read, of course they read, but not really.

[16:29] Have you not read that he who created from the beginning made them male and female and said, for this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

[16:40] Therefore, they're no longer two but one flesh. So what God has joined together, let no man separate. Let's. Jesus packs in so much here.

[16:57] And he takes them all the way back not to Moses, not to Deuteronomy, not to Leviticus, not to Exodus. He takes them all the way back to Genesis. And not just to Genesis, but chapters 1 and 2.

[17:10] Now, when we look at this, there's five different aspects that we need to notice from Jesus' answer here. Now lay them out for you. Aspect number one.

[17:23] First, Jesus believed in the historicity of Genesis chapter 1 and 2. Jesus believed in the historicity of Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

[17:36] Why is that vital? Any view you take on marriage hinges on what you view or how you view the Bible. The sufficiency and the authority of Scripture.

[17:48] Jesus didn't think Genesis chapters 1 and 2 was just a story. Jesus didn't believe in theistic evolution. Jesus certainly didn't believe in evolution. He believed in the historicity, the historical account of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 just by him making this statement.

[18:06] So that's the first part. Second, God is the creator of humans. God created humans. And third, he made them male and female.

[18:24] Which means there are only two genders. as given by God stands in contrast to our culture that says there are a plethora of genders.

[18:41] You ask them how many genders are, they say, we don't know. Well, I do know. There's two. There's male and there's female. I don't know.

[18:52] Jesus does. He takes it all the way back to the creation account. Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are historical. God created humans.

[19:04] He made them male and female. Here's a fourth one. Fourth. God instituted marriage between a male and a female which makes any kind of homosexual marriage is wrong.

[19:21] As a matter of fact, a homosexual marriage is really no marriage at all. That's like saying a round square. You don't say round squares.

[19:34] You don't say a square sphere. That makes no sense. To say homosexual marriage is an oxymoron. They don't go together. Because God instituted this between a male and a female.

[19:49] One writer put it like this, quote, Our sexuality is of divine ordinance. In other words, brackets, I'm adding this. Created to be male or female biologically.

[20:05] Continue, quote, It is intended to be exercised in monogamous relationships. If you want to know if you're male or if you're female, you look at your biological makeup.

[20:15] That's how God made them. Look at what Jesus is doing here. He's saying Moses should be interpreted in light of the Genesis account.

[20:27] You don't need to go anywhere else in the Bible but Genesis chapters one and two to establish the truth of this. A true historical account of what's really true about marriage, about gender, about society as given to us by God.

[20:49] But then number five, I told you there's five, right? Five different aspects. Here's the fifth one. Fifth, the Pharisees, both schools were wrong. They were both wrong.

[21:02] Jesus says, they are not two but one flesh. Notice he quotes Genesis chapter two and then here in verse six, consequently, or therefore, they're no longer two but one flesh.

[21:22] So what God has joined together, let no man separate and that includes those in the marriage. male and female coming together make one flesh united together sexually.

[21:43] I don't want to be graphic, I don't need to be graphic but it's very simple. If you do plumbing or you do any kind of electrical work or you build houses, you have a male piece and a female piece and then you put those together and it makes one piece.

[21:59] Jesus is trying to make a statement. And notice, when he quotes Genesis chapter two, he says, cleave to there. You see that word, cleave to? Or the word means cling to or joined, united or yoked together.

[22:14] So this new relationship takes precedence over all others. Even familial relationships between parents and children.

[22:26] This relationship of male and female in marriage, it takes precedence over that. one flesh is the closest, most binding relationship on earth, thus it should be honored and revered.

[22:39] That's what Jesus is saying. So God's intent for marriage was permanent. A view that would contradict with both schools of fair sake teaching.

[22:53] Jesus took a higher view of marriage because he had a high view of scripture. Now notice how the Pharisees respond.

[23:06] Look there, verse seven. They said, why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away? Now notice the two problems that they bring up here in their question to Jesus.

[23:18] Problem number one, their focus was on Moses where Jesus focused on God's original intent. Originality trumps the later allowance. This is what God's intention, this is what he made it to be.

[23:35] But second problem, notice how they use the verb. Why did Moses command? Do you see that? Why does he command?

[23:47] Man? What are you talking about? Uh-uh. Moses allowed. And notice Jesus, his response, verse eight.

[24:01] He said to them, because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed or permitted you to divorce your wives. They erroneously taught.

[24:14] Deuteronomy chapter 24, verse one, commanded divorce. But Moses said nothing of the sort. God's original intent and purpose in marriage overrides Moses' concession and the only reason he conceded was because they were doing it anyways.

[24:36] That's why Moses conceded. As a matter of fact, Moses actually did this to protect women.

[24:48] This notion that the Bible is dominated by patriarchalism is ridiculous, asinine, nonsense.

[25:00] It's absurd. Moses did this because of what people were already doing. Let me give you a scenario. What do I mean?

[25:11] It was possible that a husband would reject his wife. We're here in the time of Deuteronomy with the nation of Israel.

[25:24] He would reject his wife and he would put her out of his house. So now she's destitute. What's she supposed to do? In that society, she was jacked.

[25:36] What's she going to do? She had a hard time working. It was hard to find, to take care of everything. So when she tried to be married to another man, her former husband, he would still claim her as his wife, and yet he wouldn't take care of her at all.

[25:54] she'd be stuck. So Moses did this as a way to protect women.

[26:07] Put a different way, hard, stubborn, sinful hearts already resulted in many divorces. So Moses gave a repudiated wife some legal protection since men would use their role to sinfully dominate them.

[26:21] That's why he did this. because people would do whatever they can to bring about sinfulness and to think about themselves.

[26:36] Yet in all this, look at what Jesus says there in the end of verse 8, but from the beginning it has not been this way.

[26:49] It should not be this way. Marriage is not supposed to be this way from the very beginning. That's not how God set up marriage to be.

[27:01] God set up marriage so that it was permanent. So take it seriously. It's not something we get into flippantly or abruptly.

[27:13] It's weighty. It's heavy. It's sacred. And then notice what Jesus says in verse 9.

[27:25] Here's the crux. But I say to you, does that sound familiar to you? Remember Jesus did that in the Sermon on the Mount? You've heard it was said da-da-da-da.

[27:36] But I say to you, he does the same thing here. But I say to you, here's his authoritative word, Jesus speaking. But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for fornication and marries another woman commits adultery.

[27:48] Remember, Jesus, he gave the true interpretation of the law. If you divorce your wife and marry another, you commit adultery and this will be directed at the men since they were the ones who were divorcing his wives.

[28:05] Divorcing their wives. He directs it at those men. Amen. There's a longer reading. If you have a King James version or a New King James, you see that at the end of verse 9.

[28:20] And whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery. You probably see that there. I take the shorter reading. I believe with others that this was actually assimilated from chapter 5 verse 32.

[28:36] But even if it's added, or if it's not added, the meaning remains the same. No divorce period. Ah, but notice the exception clause.

[28:47] You see that? Jesus says, whoever divorces wife except for fornication. The word is pornea. Which is sexual relations between unmarried people.

[29:02] That's what the word means. Matthew uses the word earlier on in his gospel. He talks about adultery and fornication. He uses it separately. Now if Jesus meant adultery here, why didn't he say that?

[29:17] Or why didn't he use that term? He doesn't. Which is why I believe here Jesus meant premarital unchastity, sexual fornication discovered during the patrol time or the engagement time.

[29:35] Else he would have said adultery and not pornea or fornication. It's interesting too because if you go to Mark's gospel, you also go to Luke's gospel, when Jesus deals with the Pharisees with the same question, there is no exception clause.

[29:55] What they call here the exception clause. There's nothing there. The only exception clause you see is here in Matthew's gospel. Why does Matthew have this exception clause but Mark's gospel and Luke's gospel does not because Jesus was talking about infidelity before the marriage.

[30:15] Else as I said he would have used the word adultery or he would have used the word pornea instead of the word pornea. So if we take this to mean as it means, this would mean that we're being faithful to the meaning of the words in its own context.

[30:34] We give further clarification in chapter 5 verse 32. When Jesus dealt with divorce there and we would not contradict with Mark's gospel or even Luke's gospel. Plus, it exonerates Joseph's action.

[30:52] Remember Joseph in Matthew chapter 1? He was going to divorce Mary. This would exonerate him in Matthew chapter 1.

[31:03] This would be the only exception to divorce. So the view I take is that there should never be divorce.

[31:14] In other words, there's no grounds for divorce. That's the view I take. Me personally. I don't believe there's any grounds for divorce. Nor would I believe in any kind of separation.

[31:27] Unless there's abuse and protection is vital. vital to the wife or even to the husband. But abuse is not grounds for divorce. Substance abuse is not ground for divorce.

[31:40] There's no grounds for divorce. Now, I have this in my notes. You may have questions for me about this. Like, what about remarriage?

[31:53] What do you do if a husband goes to jail? What does a wife do when her husband deserts her? Or when a wife deserts her husband? There's so many questions that I can't address them at this time.

[32:09] But I'm more than happy if you want to ask me after the service individually, I do my best to try and answer your questions. But that's the reason why I gave the provisos at the beginning of this message.

[32:27] Because you need to keep those in mind. And you need to search the scriptures yourself. You need to search the scriptures yourself on where you believe the scripture speaks to this issue.

[32:42] The position of this church, collectively as a whole, as members, we believe adultery may be grounds for divorce. And even desertion.

[32:53] Although that desertion thing gets really sticky. It's but whatever position, this is the main thing.

[33:04] It's not by accident Jesus is talking about this just after he talked about chapter 18 of hospitality and humility. Gospel action is used to reconcile with each other. There must be gospel action to reconcile with each other.

[33:18] Because whatever view you take, here's the issue. If we are the father's little ones, chapter 18 verse 3, chapter 18 verse 6, and we're so deeply loved by the father, having been forgiven of a huge, major, massive, ginormous debt, then married couples should be ready, willing, and able to do the same thing with each other.

[33:40] Period. The gospel should be at work. We are commanded to marital permanence because it displays the very righteous life of God's kingdom.

[33:52] If God has forgiven us of so much, couples should be known to be forgiving with each other. Because does not Jesus forgive his people?

[34:06] Does not the groom forgive his bride? Even if there's marital infidelity, we need to remember something.

[34:17] Remember, the love of God in the gospel can heal anything. especially in unhealthy marriage. Forgiveness brings great restoration and reconciliation.

[34:31] It's a powerful display of the gospel at work. We must remind ourselves of the gospel. That Christ has forgiven us of all our sins.

[34:43] The Father has forgiven us of all our sins. And welcomes us. The hospitality from the Father. He welcomes you. And He'll forgive you.

[34:56] Should we not do the same thing with each other? Especially within marriage. Notice the disciples' response. They knew exactly what Jesus was saying. Look at verse 10.

[35:08] If the relationship with the man with his wife is like this, it's better not to marry. They knew exactly what Jesus was saying. He didn't take the Hillel position. He didn't take the Shammai position.

[35:19] He didn't take either one. The disciples' reaction to Jesus gives further way to his firm view on divorce. There were no grounds at all, which is why they came to the conclusion not to ever get married.

[35:32] It's almost like they were saying, Jesus, are you crazy? You're telling us there's no grounds, so it's better not to get married. And that's why Jesus says, the next part of verse 11, not all accept this statement, but only those whom has been given.

[35:46] not all can or will accept this, which is why we should have a high view of marriage, and we should honor it, and it's a gift that's given to you to marry. Maybe if we had a higher view of marriage, not as many people would get married.

[36:07] And maybe if we had a higher view of marriage, more people would think less about getting a divorce than just blowing it off. bow down and worship Jesus in our marriages.

[36:21] Bow down and worship Jesus in singleness. Look at verse 12. Jesus embarks onto this whole thing about there's some that cannot accept this.

[36:32] Verse 12, for there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb. They can't have children because of their defect. There are those, he says, who were made eunuchs by men. They were castrated.

[36:42] Ew. And then he says, there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He was able to accept, let them accept.

[36:54] Those who choose to be eunuchs, they choose to be single in that they choose to be single for the kingdom of God. Which not only included John the Baptist, but even Jesus himself.

[37:12] So I want to say a word to those of you who are single. I think it's important to say something about this. You have a unique opportunity to allow God's kingdom to take precedence in your life.

[37:26] You can freely serve, freely minister, freely give your time and resources. You can serve in ways that I can't, in ways that others can't.

[37:38] you can be a ministry and a service to marry couples, to single moms and single dads. You have that opportunity.

[37:53] That's what Jesus is saying. You give yourself to the kingdom of heaven. Why do you think Daniel's in Asia? He's just like, yeah, I'm going.

[38:06] He gave Himself to that. I'm going to encourage you single people, encourage you to have that mindset. I'll tell you, our culture, as it has infiltrated into marriage, it infiltrates into you as singles.

[38:23] How? To conform you to only think about you. That it's all about you. That's what our culture does.

[38:36] And I'll say this, I believe that's a reason why so many young singles commit suicide. Because the focus is all on them. And they lose purpose.

[38:53] One of the ways that they say to deal with depression, you start serving other people. Because you're not thinking about yourself. and that's not really even, that's a biblical thing.

[39:06] But even psychologists say that. Even they figured it out from a non-Christian, God-hating worldview. Even they figured it out. That's so true. Now, I don't mean to say that celibate or single people are more spiritual than us who are married.

[39:25] I'm not saying that. it just means that marriage is a higher calling than we have taught. Especially if we've been taught from our culture. And singleness is a high calling as well.

[39:37] It's a gift that's given to you. You use it for the glory of Christ. Marriages, singleness, and Jesus talks about parenting as well.

[39:50] Jesus had a high view of the family in parenting. 13 to 15. Children were brought to him, so he might lay his hands on them and pray for them.

[40:01] Jesus took interest in children. He did. He placed our hands, prayed for them. It fits nicely into this whole thing. So, just a word, to say that parenting is unworthy is completely unbiblical.

[40:17] High is the calling to be a parent, even a mother who stays home to teach and train her children. That old shenanigan that says that's a 1950s model, shame on you.

[40:30] She molds and shapes them for Christ. That's a high calling. And our culture spits on that. And that's wrong. They should not. They should not spit on that.

[40:42] That's a high calling. Notice the disciples. They're so clueless. We're not like this. And the disciples rebuked them. I think it's talking about the parents, not the kids.

[40:53] Although maybe they rebuked the kids too. Get out of here. What's the matter with you, kid? I don't know. Maybe they did. They just assumed that Jesus didn't want to be around kids. Oh, they're such a bother. Oh, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, I have my career goals.

[41:09] I got my personal agenda. Jesus didn't think that way. They're totally wrong. Notice this is a window. Notice chapter 19 verses 3 through 15.

[41:21] It talks about many different things. It's just a window into the low view of marriage and parenting that the disciples had. The disciples had a low view of marriage.

[41:33] They had a low view of parenting. Get the children out of here. Notice verse 14. He rebuked them. Let the children alone.

[41:45] Don't hinder them from coming to me. Keep the kids coming to me. me. I want them to come to me. And look at what he says, the reason for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.

[42:00] The kingdom belongs to those who come to me like a child. This sounds familiar. Chapter 18 verse 4, remember? They should have the attitude of children.

[42:15] Why? Because children have no status in society. They had no position or standing in the ancient world. They had nothing to offer.

[42:29] Which is how we come to God. God, I have nothing to offer. Please save me. A child's lowly status is a great model for becoming a follower of Jesus, a model of discipleship.

[42:45] We humbly admit our need for him as a perfect illustration of kingdom humility, which should be our attitude. If you're here, you're not a Christian, that should be your attitude. You just say, God, I want to come to you as a child.

[42:57] I have no position, no status with you. I should be condemned, and yet please save me. And he does. He will. He welcomes sinners. His arms are wide open to you.

[43:08] Why are you holding back? Come to the Father and he will save you. He will love you and forgive you of all your sins. That's why Jesus died.

[43:21] Perfect illustration of the gospel. Children are not a distraction to Jesus from his career goals or from his personal pleasure.

[43:34] Jesus called us to have a high view of marriage and a high view of parenting. He was genuinely interested in kids, so he stopped, notice, stopped, laid his hands on them, and left.

[43:47] Prayed for them. This is a challenge for us. And praise the Lord, he gives us great grace to achieve this challenge.

[44:04] Jesus had a high, honorable view of the family structure with marriage first and foremost because he had a high view of God's kingdom, a high view of God's word. As an aspect of your worship, bowing down and worshiping Jesus, may you do that in your marriage, may you do that in your singleness, may you do that in your parenting.

[44:30] So I want to challenge you in that way. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you love us.

[45:01] thank you, Father, that you love us. Thank you that as we fall so short, your grace and your mercy is there to pick us up.

[45:13] as we fall so short in these different areas. You're so kind and compassionate to us.

[45:27] Thank you. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for reconciliation. May our marriages be a reflection of that. May our parenting reflect that.

[45:43] And for these who are single, may they give themselves for the kingdom of God. Take a few moments, if you would, as we do each Sunday, for you to reflect, for you to think, for you to ponder, to meditate what we've seen from God's word.

[46:10] Maybe a time to pray. maybe to praise, maybe to confess, maybe to conviction is there. Just a few moments. And we'll worship in our giving.

[46:24] We'll worship singing a couple more songs, praying, but between you and the Lord, just a few minutes, a minute actually, between you and the Lord, to let your mind think on these things.

[46:37] Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks.

[47:14] Thank you.