Our text for today is Matthew chapter 5 verses 31 and 32.
As has been said a number of times now, it's a difficult text.
! And it's a difficult text because, as we look at the larger teaching on marriage, divorce and remarriage in the Bible, the waters can get a little bit muddy.
And it's a difficult text because almost all of us have been affected by divorce in one way or another.
And so it's a very real, present issue for us.
At the end of July 2014, in our verse-by-verse study of Mark's Gospel,
we came to some of Jesus' teaching on divorce and remarriage in Mark chapter 10 verses 1 through 12.
At that time, I presented two widely accepted conservative views.
And I framed them as, number one, the more permissive view.
And number two, the more restrictive view, often called the permanence view.
But I did not settle for you or for myself, quite frankly, which view we ought to hold as a church.
And I suggested that we needed to settle the matter as a church.
That it was a weighty enough issue that we should, in fact, work through it.
It is astounding to me that it has been four years, almost to date.
In fact, last Sunday would have been four years to the date since we first stated the need for a formal position on the matter.
Many churches, we've discovered, have no formal position on this at all.
But as we saw the need for it, four years have passed by already.
Initially, my fervency for the issue was derailed by simple schedule conflicts that made it absolutely impossible.
I wrote seemingly impossible.
It was impossible for our elders to gather that fall of 2014.
And then life happened.
Everything else in our world just kept on moving on.
And we didn't get to time out everything else going on in our personal lives and in the life of the church to study the matter.
Since then, we've preached through the rest of Mark, Colossians, Ecclesiastes.
I'm pretty sure the book of Jonah, the parable of the prodigal son, and the book of Acts.
We've begun new ministry efforts like training for the Center for Biblical Counseling and the ABBA initiative,
our foster care and adoption initiative.
We have sent out new ministry partners.
For example, the Zwimpkes to Germany and Oseama Obele to Brazil.
We've said goodbye to many people.
Our dearest of brothers, Sid, went home to be with the Lord, and we grieved that loss together.
We said goodbye to Wes and Liz.
As I mentioned earlier, Wes was an elder of our church and music leader,
and we've worked through the labor, the effort of replacing all of the work that both of them did for our church.
We have done lots of premarital counseling and officiated numerous weddings.
I think 15 in the past four years.
And praise the Lord, we've had a lot of babies.
My family included, which definitely made for a tough year for our family personally.
Silas is now two years old.
So, life moved on, and the situation got shelved.
Not forgotten, but shelved.
And so, I am once again grateful for our general habit as a church of verse-by-verse exposition of God's Word.
As in God's good design, we've been brought to the topic of marriage, divorce, and remarriage once again.
And I will tell you, to just be entirely honest, I would have loved just to have skipped these two verses for now.
If you're paying attention, you know I've delayed them a little bit.
We've done a few things topically over the past couple of weeks.
I want to, right now at the outset, just burst the bubble of anticipation for you this morning.
I do not intend to settle the matter today.
I appreciate the prayers that you guys have had on my behalf, both prior to and this morning as well.
Even this week, I had every intention of sorting out every detail.
To be honest, I'm not sure I could even preach a reasonably-length sermon to cover all of the massive amount of information that ought to be covered.
I had really hoped, but I have yet, despite an incredible number of hours of prayerful study,
to sort out all of the complexities of the matter.
If you find that you have a confident position on divorce and remarriage,
you have either, A, made assumptions based on how you have heard the matter taught,
you just grew up believing a certain thing about marriage, divorce, and remarriage,
and so you're just assuming, and it may be the right teaching, but you're assuming that it's right.
Or you've not spent nearly enough time in reading broadly, reading opposing arguments,
hearing all of the many interpretations of the many texts that speak to the matter.
Or you are much more brilliant than I am, which is a distinct possibility.
I want to be clear.
I don't dare think myself the most brilliant amongst us.
Or you have spent considerable time on the matter,
carefully weighing out the teaching and varied interpretations,
and have arrived at a position.
And if this is the case for you, I would ask that you would come speak with me.
I find myself in this process, and your input would be most welcome.
So we're not going to sort it all out this morning.
I do hope that you can appreciate my desire not to be brash on this topic.
It has real application for today.
And I think we should be careful about the lines that we draw concerning it.
I believe that the consequences are too dire to take an issue like this lightly.
I also hope that you can sense this morning my earnest longing
to lead our truth, our church in truth and love,
and not to divorce the two.
Pun intended.
What I promise is that from this date forth,
we will not settle this issue in a matter of years,
but rather in a matter of months.
I intend, and you can be praying for me,
to present a position paper to you,
I hope, in the coming few weeks,
for your prayerful consideration and conversation,
and for us to discuss at our next quarterly members meeting,
which is at the beginning of October, I believe.
So, we are going to look at today's text,
and we are going to talk about today's text,
but we are not going to work out every bit of its possible meaning for us today.
All the same, let me remind you before I read Matthew 5,
verses 31 and 32,
beloved, that this is God's word to us.
It was written for His glory and our good.
We would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises
and obey its commands.
So, I read in verse 31,
It was also said,
Whoever divorces his wife,
let him give her a certificate of divorce.
But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife,
except on the ground of sexual immorality,
makes her commit adultery,
and whoever marries a divorced woman,
commits adultery.
Now, we are in Jesus' most famous of sermons,
we commonly call the Sermon on the Mount.
And recall the two prominent themes of the Sermon on the Mount
are number one, human flourishing.
What does it look like to live well as a citizen of God's kingdom?
And we have seen that the human flourishing that Jesus teaches
is not the same as the flourishing of the world.
Jesus says,
Blessed are those who are poor in spirit,
and mourn,
and are meek,
and hungry,
and thirsty for righteousness,
and merciful,
pure peacemakers.
Those who are persecuted for righteousness,
Jesus tells us are flourishing.
And the second theme that we have seen,
and really is beginning to pick up some steam now,
is the theme of whole person righteousness.
Not merely outward appearance of righteousness,
but a holiness that indwells us,
that affects our thoughts,
and our attitudes,
and our intentions,
as well as our actions.
Jesus has taught us that citizens of his kingdom
are keepers of the law.
Not that they gain their citizenship by being keepers of it,
but that they have been granted citizenship,
and their keeping of the law evidences their citizenship.
Right?
And this law keeping,
this righteousness,
is not just this outward thing.
Right?
It is a whole person thing.
This is what Jesus means when he says in Matthew 5,
in verse 20,
For I tell you,
unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
We spent quite a bit of time looking at the law,
and going back to Exodus 20,
and considering all of the implications of the moral law for us.
So, with this idea in mind,
Jesus begins to press this point
by using a series of phrases,
beginning in Matthew 5,
verses 21 and 22.
You see, at the beginning of verse 21,
he says,
You have heard that it was said to those of old.
And then in verse 22,
But I say to you.
So, there's this pattern that follows through chapter 5.
He does this six times through the end of the chapter.
And what he is doing is correcting the common misinterpretations of the law in his day.
He is correcting the mere pharisaical outward appearance understanding of these laws.
And he is showing his listeners then and us now
how it is that we are to embody the law as citizens of his kingdom.
And he does this in this pattern.
You have heard it was said,
but I say to you.
He does this six times over.
So, in Jesus' teaching on marriage, divorce, and remarriage,
which this is just a snapshot of.
So, if you have heard me read the text and you've gone,
that seems incredibly clear.
Just hang on.
This is just one of the teachings on it.
And it gains some complexity, I believe.
What he's doing is he's correcting something.
He's bringing a clear understanding to something.
He begins in verse 31.
It was also said,
whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.
And Jesus here is referring to an interpretation of Deuteronomy 24, verses 1-4.
The interpretation of Deuteronomy 24, verses 1-4.
And I want you to hear me.
I'm going to read it.
And you can get there quickly if you want to.
But listen quickly.
It's a case law issue, Deuteronomy 24,
which says,
when a man takes a wife and marries her,
if she then 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 of his house,
and she departs out of his house,
and if she goes and becomes another man's wife,
and the latter man hates 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 man dies who took her to be his wife,
then her former husband, who sent her away,
may not take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled.
For that is an abomination before the Lord,
and you shall not bring sin upon the land that your Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
Okay?
And so, the Pharisees of the day had interpreted this commandment, right?
Which is a very specific commandment.
It's a very specific issue that has taken place,
and you'll see in some coming months how it applies to the total argument.
But what we have to recognize at first is what they thought.
What was it that they had done with these four verses?
The reigning opinion in the matter was given by a rabbi named Hillel.
He was the liberal rabbi of the day.
He had in fact died 20 years before this,
but all the same, it was his view that prevailed.
Rabbi Hillel promoted divorce for any reason at all.
He had said, if your wife burns your dinner, you can divorce her.
He's also quoted saying, for any reason, unload that woman.
So, his interpretation was, merely as long as a certificate is given,
you can divorce for any reason whatsoever,
which is a pretty fast and loose interpretation of Deuteronomy 24, verses 1 through 4.
I think that you will agree.
Later in Matthew, chapter 19, verses 3 through 8,
we see a similar response by Jesus, but this time he's being tested.
Verse 3 says,
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking,
Who are you going to side with, Jesus, is what they were asking.
They said, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause, as Hillel had said.
Jesus answered, this is verse 4,
Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
and said,
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother,
and hold fast to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
What therefore God has joined together,
let not man separate.
They said to him,
Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?
And he said to them,
Because of your hardness of heart,
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives.
But from the beginning,
it was not so.
So something that we can be sure of in this text
is that the reigning opinion of the day
was that you could divorce your wife or your husband
for any reason whatsoever,
just as long as you did it through the legal channels.
It was no big deal.
And Jesus' response,
we can see in Matthew 19,
very clearly is,
This is not what God intended for our marriages.
God designed our marriages to be more permanent than that.
They are in fact weighty promises that we make to one another when we are married.
He is correcting this huge misconception.
And we live in a day much like that.
Misconceptions needing to be corrected.
So Jesus goes on to say,
and we get into some of the more challenging and more troubling words,
I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife
except on the grounds of sexual immorality
makes her commit adultery.
And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
And it does not matter which view you hold.
All of these views make a case
that you have to understand
the culture of the day
and the nature of divorce laws.
And they make opposing arguments
using the very same premises,
which seems like a real moving target.
It is hard to plant your flag on this one,
I would contend.
Again,
you might be more brilliant than I am
and be able to pull it off.
But I've heard the same arguments made
to support a different view,
which I think that if you have a premise,
it should lead to a conclusion.
So it can be quite frustrating altogether.
So there are a broad spectrum of views
concerning divorce and remarriage.
And clearly some of them are outside of orthodoxy, right?
Would be like the teaching of Hillel in our day,
a no-fault divorce teaching
that you can divorce for any reason,
you can remarry for any reason,
it does not matter.
Certainly as a church,
we are not on that end of the spectrum
concerning the issue.
And I would suggest that there are
two widely accepted conservative views,
which I mentioned to you previously,
and I'll give you some more details about here
in a moment.
Previously, I called them
the more permissive view
and the more restrictive view.
And I have found it extremely problematic
to give these views names.
No matter what I seem to do,
one of them gets framed in the positive
and one in the negative.
It's a very difficult thing to do.
Permissive and restrictive, for example.
You can bring whatever thoughts you have
to those words.
Permissive in your mind could be a negative.
Restrictive in your mind could be a negative.
As of late, as our church,
in various formats,
have been having lots of conversation about this,
I've been using the titles
broader view and narrower view.
I recognize, once again,
this is problematic.
Some of you, when you hear the word broad,
may think of the way that leads to destruction.
That's not what I mean by it.
Some of you, when you hear narrow,
may think of narrow-mindedness.
And this is not what I mean either by this.
So, I'm going to use those terms,
but I recognize that they're problematic terms
all the same.
So, a few details about each of these views
to prime your minds,
to get you thinking about these issues.
Number one, the broader view.
The broader view would say
that divorce is permitted
under certain circumstances,
although there's some fracturing here
about the particulars of those circumstances.
Most agree that when a spouse commits adultery,
is sexually unfaithful in a physical sense,
that divorce is permissible.
Or, when a spouse,
an unbelieving spouse,
deserts the relationship,
abandons the relationship,
this is 1 Corinthians chapter 7,
that it is permissible,
and maybe even, some would say,
commanded that you grant a divorce
to that person.
Some contend that when a spouse
is dangerously abusive,
has given up on the covenant promises
that accompany a marriage,
that that falls in that abandonment clause
and layers and layers and layers.
Most who hold this view
would say that remarriage is permitted
to the non-offending spouse
when the divorce has occurred
for those aforementioned reasons.
Some would say it's permitted
with some parameters to any party,
and it's complex.
And it's complex.
That's where I'm at right now.
Second, the narrower view,
it's a bit simpler.
It's an attractive thing about it.
I would say that divorce is only permitted
when a believer is married
to an unbelieving spouse
who demands a divorce.
Some who hold this view
don't agree with that,
but most do.
Most would say that 1 Corinthians 7 text
applies here.
If you have an unbelieving spouse
who will not live peaceably with you,
abandons you,
demands divorce for the sake of peace,
it should be granted.
That's 1 Corinthians 7, 10 through 12,
I believe.
They also say in this narrower view
that remarriage is not permitted
under any circumstance
unless it's a reconciliation
to that spouse
provided that the spouse
is still alive.
So, as I've said,
it's not a clear-cut, simple issue.
It's been widely debated.
It would seem throughout
the history of the church,
at least since the Reformation,
that broader view is held
by modern pastors
and scholars like
John MacArthur
and Andreas Kostenberger
as a professor at Southeastern,
now at Midwestern,
I just found out.
This is the most widely held
evangelical view,
again,
with some variances
within it.
It's historically held
by Protestants
like John Murray
who wrote a rather fine work on it.
The Westminster Confession
of 1647 reads,
In case of adultery
after marriage,
it is lawful
for the innocent party
to sue out a divorce
and after the divorce
to marry another
as if the offending party
were dead.
So there's some
veracity of this view held
both historically
and presently.
The narrow view
is held by modern pastors
and scholars
who we love
like Votie Bauckham
and John Piper.
Historically,
the Baptists of England,
when they adopted
the Westminster Confession,
which then became known
as the Second London
Baptist Confession,
which we are very fond of,
they omitted
the previously read paragraph
from the Westminster Confession.
They didn't say anything.
They just took it out.
So I don't know exactly
what they thought
on the matter.
My guess would be
that they weren't sure,
but that there were some,
at least amongst them,
that would have debated
for that narrower view
and wanted that statement removed,
and so it was done.
Either way,
from our text today,
we should see that
Jesus is adding
great weight
to marriage.
In fact,
in our conversations
about this,
I've wanted to express,
and I think that
at least most
who have joined me
in this
have done so,
that we pick up
a very, very
heavy weight.
Marriage,
when it was designed
to picture something,
it's important
and it matters
and it accomplishes
things in our lives,
and we set that heavy weight
on the one side
of the scale
in this conversation,
and then we begin
to talk about
the possibilities
for divorce
and remarriage,
and we drop
very little light,
light weights
onto the other side
of that scale,
right?
The weight of this one
crashes,
right?
This thing matters
on this side,
and then we go
dink,
dink over here.
Like,
we can be clear
about this,
right?
There are some
non-negotiable things,
right?
Some things that we
cannot and should not,
and I don't believe
any of us would want
to waver on
as we consider
this issue,
and so I want to talk
about those
non-negotiables.
I have five of them
for you.
If you were here
four years ago,
these are a repetition
of what we did
last time
we talked about
this matter.
So five non-negotiables.
Number one,
God presided
over the first marriage
and every subsequent
marriage,
right?
God created
the institution
of marriage
before He created
any other
institution.
It's the only
pre-fall institution
that God
created,
and He made it
very
good.
We see this
in Genesis
chapter 2,
and we saw
from our text
in Matthew
chapter 19,
Jesus quotes
from Genesis
2, 24,
and He goes on
to say,
what therefore
God has joined
together,
let not
man
separate.
Marriage
is a good
thing,
and it was
created for
our good
and for
the glory
of God.
So the
second,
non-negotiable,
is that God
created marriage
to give us
a shadow
of the
blessed
relationship
between Christ
and the
church.
We read about
this in Ephesians
chapter 5,
verses 22
through 33,
that Paul
works out
for us
this wonderful,
profound
mystery
that although
imperfectly,
our marriages
are meant
to display
this relationship.
The loving,
sacrificial
headship of
Jesus Christ
and the
humble submission
of the church
is meant
to be working
out in
our marriages.
Our marriages
are meant
to be holy
and set apart
in this way
for the glory
of God.
They're meant
to show
something
that is
permanent.
Jesus Christ
will never
fail
the church
and husbands.
We fail
our wives
so imperfectly
we display
this but
all the same
it's meant
to display
this.
And for
these reasons,
the third
non-negotiable
is that
divorce
is never
ideal.
Even those
who hold
that narrower
view must
admit that
it happens
at times.
But it
is never
ideal.
Malachi
chapter 2
and verse
16.
The ESV
says this,
for the man
who does not
love his wife
but divorces her
says the Lord,
the God of Israel,
covers his garment
with violence
says the Lord
of hosts.
So guard
yourselves
in your spirit
and do not
be faithless.
Now there's
some interpretive
challenges
in Malachi
chapter 2
and verse 16
and if you
have an ESV
you'll see a
footnote
concerning this
particular
interpretive
challenge.
The NASB
and many
other,
I think it's
actually most
other translations
render Malachi
2.16
this way.
Well I'll just
read you the
beginning.
At the beginning
of Malachi
2.16
they translate
for I hate
divorce
says the
Lord,
the God
of Israel.
God does
not desire
or intend
for any
of our
marriages
to end
in divorce.
This is why
we say
permanence
vows
whatever
view
we may
hold.
If you've
ever heard
me officiate
a wedding
we work
together
in that
time
in front
of people
who love
us
to make
huge
promises
to one
another
and all
of those
promises
are
until
death
do we
part
promises.
Never
ever
want
we
never
ever
desire
that a
marriage
would end
in divorce.
Fourth
non-negotiable
the marriage
covenant
is temporal
that is
death
breaks the
covenant
and gives
a remaining
spouse
the ability
to remarry.
this is a
non-negotiable
Romans chapter
7 verse 2
and 3
Paul writes
for a married
woman is bound
by law to her
husband while
he lives
but if her
husband dies
she is released
from the law
of marriage
accordingly
she will be
called an
adulteress
if she lives
with another
man while
her husband
is alive
but if her
husband dies
she is free
from that
law
and if she
marries another
man
she is not
an adulteress.
we can
recall
again
the Pharisees
coming to
test Jesus
and asking
about
multiple
marriages
and
whose
wife
who will
have a
husband
and he
says
do you
not
understand
this is
a temporal
thing
marriage
is a
momentary
thing
it's not
an
eternal
thing
it's
meant
for
the
life
of
covenant
together
if a
spouse
were to
pass
remarriage
as possible
and then
fifth
the fifth
non-negotiable
is that
divorce
and or
remarriage
after divorce
is not
an unpardonable
sin
it's not
an unpardonable
sin
and I
am
extremely
grieved
by how
many churches
seem to
make
members of
their
church
second
class
Christians
because of
some
past
sin
in
their
life
the
only
unpardonable
sin
is the
sin
of
unbelief
it's
denying
the
conviction
of
the
spirit
in
your
life
all
others
are
covered
plentifully
by the
blood
of
Jesus
Christ
both
views
either
way
hold
that
if
someone
is
wrongly
divorced
and or
wrongly
remarried
that these
are acts
of sin
but not
perpetually
not
perpetual
sin
that they
should be
confessed
from the
past
and certainly
avoided
in the
future
but they
are not
unforgivable
!
and these
things are
non-negotiable
for me
I believe
they would
be for
you
I believe
the cases
are clearly
made
for these
things
and so
hear
the
weightiness
of what
we believe
is of
good
value
about
marriage
I want
us to
settle this
again
many churches
don't
and my
assumption
is that
the
churches
that don't
have a
formal
view
on this
merely
bow to
the
pastor's
personal
view
on the
matter
he takes
care of
all of
the
counseling
he's the
one that
has to
be
making
decisions
on whether
or not
he'll
officiate
a wedding
etc
and so
they just
simply
appeal
to him
but
I believe
that we
need to
as a
church
form a
view on
this
in the
coming
months
because
we
believe
in a
congregational
church
polity
that is
to say
we believe
the bible
teaches
that in
matters
of
doctrine
and
discipline
it is
the
congregation
that holds
the power
to decide
these things
certainly
given some
leadership
from the
elders
of the
church
but that
you
ultimately
need to
be part
of the
process
of deciding
what the
bible
teaches
what view
we ought
to hold
as a
church
on this
matter
and of
course
many
others
that
means
that
this
is a
responsibility
that you
have to
take
up
you
have
to
get
involved
in
looking
at
the
texts
and
then
further
looking
at
the
cases
made
for
the
text
you
have
to
engage
your
mind
in
prayerfully
considering
where
we
ought
to
land
on
this
I'm
going
to
produce
I
promise
I'm
not
looking
forward
to
it
I
don't
esteem
myself
a
very
good
writer
but
I'm
going
to
produce
a
paper
that
you'll
need
to
carefully
consider
I'm
going to
say
I'm
proposing
Doug's
going to
join me
in that
this is
what we
propose
our
church
adopts
together
and then
we're
going to
have
a
conversation
about
it
and
I
don't
really
want
to
have
a
conversation
with
a
bunch
of
people
with
opinions
carefully
!
dialogue
about
the
matter
but
you have
to
get
engaged
you have
to
get
involved
and
we
have
to
decide
together
I
don't
have
the
power
to
plant
my
flag
and
say
this
will
be
our
flag
we need
to
do
this
together
secondly
we need
to do
this
together
because
these
matters
have
bearing
on
how
we
function
together
as
a
faith
family
what
we
will
permit
or
not
permit
so
what
we
will
call
sin
and
what
we
will
not
call
sin
there's
a
lot
of
implication
to
deciding
this
who
would
be
expected
to
repent
of
something
or
not
repent
of
something
or
if
they're
unwilling
to
repent
who
we
would
allow
in
church
membership
or
put
out
of
church
membership
if
they
don't
see
eye
to
eye
with
us
on
the
matter
right
and
that
process
of
permitting
members
and
seeing
members
out
communication
and the
process
of
discipline
is a
church
responsibility
it's not
just
mine
all of
the
difficult
things
don't
just
land
in
my
lap
we
bear
much
of
what
the
church
does
as
a
church
together
so
we
need
to
decide
it
together
third
we
must
contend
for the
truth
in this
generation
concerning
marriage
we
need
to
carefully
work
through
this
together
because
we
cannot
let
the
culture
at
large
define
truth
for
us
and
we
must
serve
as a
God
fearing
example
to
our
community
so
you
need
to
understand
the
case
you
need
to
be
able
to
articulate
in
some
measure
the
case
for
where
we
land
as
a
church
concerning
marriage
divorce
and
remarriage
fourth
I
believe
it's
going
to
be
good
for
us
to
go
through
this
process
together
because
it's
going
to
be
a
test
of
our
love
for
the
truth
it's
going
to
press
us
as
it
has
me
I
cannot
I
can't
express
to
you
in
unthought
out
words
how
tied
up
in
knots
I've
been
over
this
issue
I
believe
in
the
doctrine
of
the
clarity
of
scripture
and
that's
shaky
I
want
it
to
be
more
clear
on
this
matter
oh
the
scribbles
I
have
done
on
a
white
board
downstairs
I
have
approached
this
thing
from
all
kinds
of
angles
trying
to
blank
slate
and
start
over
and
blank
slate
and
start
over
it
will
I
think
if
taken
up
rightly
help
us
to
better
love
the
scripture
we
have
to
decide
things
and
these
things
have
implications
right
we
have
to
work
out
in
the
life
of
our
church
and
I
think
it
will
press
us
together
to
greater
love
for
the
truth
of
the
Bible
and
fifth
this
is
going
be
a
test
of
our
love
for
one
another
you
did
not
commit
right
speaking
to
members
to
this
church
as
a
set
of
programs
presentations
certainly
not a
property
a
particular
position
on
something
but
as a
commitment
to
a
people
who
love
the
truth
of
God
who
are
trying
to
walk
together
in
the
truth
of
God
we
ought
not
hurl
doctrine
at
one
another
carelessly
and
Paul
writes
in
1
Corinthians
chapter
13
and
verse
2
and
if
I
have
prophetic
powers
and
understand
all
mysteries
and
all
knowledge
that's
how
I
feel
right
now
about
this
particular
I
feel
like
I
have
to
at
the
moment
and
if
I
have
all
faith
so
as
to
remove
mountains
but
have
not
love
I
am
nothing
and
Paul
is not
here
minimizing
!
the
truth
but
he's
merely
saying
if we
could
understand
everything
that there
ever was
to
ever
understand
and
none
of us
do
right
so
we
have
less
than
this
to be
clear
but
we
have
not
love
if we
can't
walk
together
in
love
and
the
truth
then
we're
nothing
and
I
would
suggest
that
since
we
know
so
much
less
than
all
the
prophetic
powers
and
all
the
mysteries
and
all
the
knowledge
and
all
the
faith
that
we
would
be
less
than
nothing
if
we
can't
do
this
in
love
so
be
expecting
a
further
work
from me
on
this
matter
up
until
late
last
night
I
had
intended
to
do
more
just
unsettled
about
some
of
it
be
in
prayer
for
me
and
for
our
church
begin
having
scripturally
informed
conversations
with your
closest
relationships
in our
church
and
then
have
conversations
with
people
you
may
not
regularly
speak
with
don't
get
into
an
echo
chamber
talk
broadly
where
are you
coming
from
on
this
ask
that
question
of
people
you
will
be
asked
if
you're
a
member
to
vote
on
a
document
in
some
coming
months
be an
informed
voter
do not
take your
responsibility
as a
church
member
lightly
in
!
in
the
meantime
and
beyond
let's
fight
for
marriages
let's
fight
for
marriages
many of
you may
not
know
this
but
it's
one
of my
high
goals
as a
pastor
to
never
officiate
a
wedding
that
ends
in
divorce
what a
wonderful
goal
that
would
be
if you
have
had me
officiate
your
wedding
you know
that's
why we
do
six
long
sessions
of
premarital
counseling
I want
to see
successful
marriages
in our
church
I don't
want to
have to
apply
I don't
want to
have to
apply
the
teaching
on
divorce
and
remarriage
wouldn't
it be
wonderful
if we
could
just
skate
through
and
never
have
these
issues
arise
although
they
have
and
I'm
confident
they
will
in
the
future
because
marriage
is the
first
and
most
fundamental
of
human
institutions
may we
be a
church
full of
marriages
that exist
for the
glory
of our
great
God
let's
pray
together