SERMON ON Mark 10: 2-16

SERMON ON Mark 10: 2-16 October 5 & 8, 2006

“Human Will & Divine Grace”

You know what I hate? I hate filling out a form—at the doctor’s office or for some other reason and having to check the box that says “divorced.” I hate that. I hate being divorced.

I was widowed when I was 30 years old and divorced when I was 55. And I wouldn’t give you 15 cents for the difference between the two when it comes to pain. It hurts to be divorced. And it especially hurts when a Christian puts pen to paper to sign the divorce papers, knowing that the breakup of a marriage hurts God even more than it hurts her.

So, it would be really easy for me to preach on the epistle lesson or the Old Testament lesson today, because the Gospel lesson you just heard me read gives Jesus’ words on divorce, and they pull no punches.

God hates divorce.

So, when I read this Gospel lesson and other Scripture passages like it, in my inner heart I want to say “Now, how can I read these words so that they don’t apply to me?” Can I say, “Well, things were very different back then, when Jesus was speaking. The same rules can’t possibly apply today”? Or can I say, “Well, surely Jesus wasn’t talking about situations like mine with all its messy details”? Can I just dismiss Jesus’ words because they hurt me?

May I say one thing at this point that I hope you hear if you hear nothing else I say today:

We—you and I—must never let our personal preferences or personal

Predicaments get in the way of an honest encounter with the Word of God.

We dare not take a soft attitude toward disobeying God simply because obedience is hurts.

The teachings of Jesus are the clearest to be found I the Bible concerning divorce. He refused to be drawn into the controversy over what would be an acceptable reason for divorce. When questioners come to him on that subject, Jesus referred them to Old Testament law. When they reminded him that Deuteronomy 24 gives permission for divorce in cases of adultery, Jesus reminds them that divorce was not God’s original intent. God’s original intent, Jesus implies, was permanent monogamy, one man and one woman together for life: “Therefore a man leaves his father his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

As a lesson in painfully honest Bible reading, let’s just agree that the meaning of that passage is plain: divorce is not God’s perfect standard.

Now, at this point, I can imagine (because I can feel) that if you have been divorced, you might be very tempted to get up and walk out. Please don’t. Hear me out. Hear what else God has to say.

And, although I doubt that anyone here now is thinking this, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone coming across this sermon on Grace’s website might say, “Well, thank God, I’m not divorced; this sermon isn’t about me.” To which I would respond, “Of course it’s about you!” Just substitute any other standard that God sets—any other rule or commandment. There’s a commandment against lying. Can anyone claim never to have lied?! There are injunctions against lusting. Can any adult claim never to have lusted! In fact, can anyone ever honestly claim to have loved God with his whole heart and his neighbor as himself?! NO, of course not!

All sin. And all sin is humiliating. We are humiliated, we are humbled before each other and before God when we know that we have aimed to please God but we have missed the target (hamartia).

No one ever walks down a wedding aisle looking forward to divorce. We intend our lives to be as perfect as those little dolls on the tops of wedding cakes. But we all know where good intentions lead us. The bonds of a “committed monogamous relationship” are only as strong as the will of those making the commitment. And what is the value of human intentions? Listen to what the writer of the New Testament book of Romans says: “For I know that nothing good dwells within me. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” That sums it up.

The most recent divorce statistics for the U.S. tell us that nearly 45% of all first marriages will end in divorce. So, where do we go from here? What’s the point of knowing God’s perfect standard if real life is so hard to get right? If course, that’s the question—whether we’re talking about divorce or anything else.

The Bible says (about many things)—“Thou shalt not…)

That’s God’s LAW. The purpose of LAW is to tell us God’s perfect standard. But we cannot meet that standard. Every one of us fails everyday, in what we think, what we say, and what we do. (“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23.)

So, what do we do? We know God’s LAW, and we know we’ve broken it.

That’s where God comes in—literally.

And another Bible passage comes to the rescues: “For while we were helpless and

sinful, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6)

And because Jesus gave his own life for us, our imperfection, our disobedience,

our sin is forgiven—even when we fall far short of God’s perfect standard,

and everyone knows it.

Grace, mercy, and peace are gifts from God, provided by Jesus on the cross.

It’s okay.

So, what happens then with God’s perfect standard?

Can we just ignore the LAW because God forgives us?

NO!

Because Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Once we have accepted God’s forgiveness, the purpose of the LAW is to show us how to please God and express our love and gratitude toward Him.

Like when my son calls and asks, “Mom, what do you want for Christmas?” And I give him a list—not because I need anything he can buy and certainly not because my love depends on what he gives me. But because he wants to please me and I want to let him. That’s why God keeps His LAW before us, and that’s why we try to obey it.

Jesus said to the woman taken in adultery, “Go and sin no more.” I wish I could do that—sin no more. But I am human—and you are, too. And if we are ever to be made perfectly whole, we must admit who we are and give God the glory.