Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Exod 34–36
Chronological Order: Gen 45–47
Divorce
Divorce is a problem in our nation today. It was a problem for the nation of Israel long ago as well. I recently heard a statistic that the divorce rate among self-proclaimed Christians is now higher than among non-Christians. What’s up with that? Divorce poseses a problem for Christians and the words of Christ spoken in today’s reading are some of the hardest concerning divorce in the entire Bible. Again my old friend J. Vernon McGee handles this subject very well so I thought I would share his commentary with you.
“The Pharisees came to tempt or to test Him. They were after Him, trying to put Him in opposition to the Mosaic system. They brought a problem which is just as difficult today as it was then. “Is it lawful for a man to put away [divorce] his wife for every cause?” That is an equally live issue among Christians in our day.
Let me preface this a little by saying that God has given to all of mankind certain things for the welfare of the human family. For instance, He has given marriage for the protection of the home. Marriage is something which God has given to be a blessing to mankind whether saved or unsaved. Another example is that of capital punishment which God gave for the protection of a nation, to protect the lives of its citizens. Also God gave the sabbath law for the protection of the individual, that he might have one day of rest. God gave these laws to protect the individual, the family, and the nation. These were general laws which He gave to all mankind. Later on, He made them specific for His chosen people.
Now let’s look at this question concerning marriage. Here it is in the smaller context of the nation Israel, of course. And we look at it today in the light of the contemporary Christian. “Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”
…The Lord Jesus took them back to the very beginning, back to God’s ideal of marriage. The Mosaic Law had permitted divorce on a broad basis: “When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house” (Deut. 24:1).
As far as the Mosaic Law was concerned, a divorce was not as bad as was marriage to a stranger. For instance, if the priest’s daughter married a stranger, she was shut out from the nation Israel. However, as time went on, the Mosaic Law was made meaningless, and the granting of divorce was done on the flimsiest pretexts, such as burning the bread. As a result, there was a great deal of discussion relative to divorce in our Lord’s day.
…This was God’s original plan for man and woman before sin entered the human family. Divorce was not in God’s original plan. Why? Because sin was not in God’s original plan, and divorce is always a result of sin. Regardless of what you may say, there is sin in the relationship somewhere which causes divorce. So our Lord took them back to the original plan of God.
…You ought to read Deuteronomy 24:1–4 to get the background for their question. Why did Moses permit divorce?
…Why did Moses permit it? Because of the hardness of their hearts. You see, marriage was given to mankind, and it is the tenderest and the sweetest of human relationships. There is nothing like it. And, actually, marriage was to represent the relationship between Christ and the church. Therefore, only believers can set forth this high and holy relationship. However, when they fail, and bitterness and hardness of heart enter in, then that marriage becomes a hollow sham, and it is just a mockery of marriage. My friend, marriage is either made in heaven or in hell—there is no third place to make it. When marriage is made in the wrong place, it is in trouble to begin with. Even Christians find that marriage becomes a very shaky proposition.
Because of the hardness of the human heart, God permitted divorce. God is merciful to us—oh, how merciful! But His ideal is never divorce. I recognize that we are living in a culture which is very lax in this area. There are multitudes of divorced folk who will be reading this book. Let me repeat that the background of divorce is always sin. But, after all, all of us are sinners. Since God can forgive murderers, He can also forgive divorced folk. But we need to recognize that the root cause of divorce is sin.
Now our Lord is going to give something new—
…Adultery breaks the marriage relationship and provides the one ground for divorce. Somebody says to me, “Yes, but here is this poor Christian woman, married to a drunkard!” Or a fine Christian man is married to a godless woman. What about that? Well, believers may separate on other grounds, which seems to be the whole point of 1 Corinthians 7, but divorce is permitted on only one basis, adultery.
Divorce was granted for the purpose of permitting the innocent party to remarry. This rule is applicable only to believers; God is not regulating the lives of unbelievers but is holding them to the message of the cross first. God wants the unbeliever to come to Christ. He is lost whether he is married, divorced, or single. It makes no difference until he accepts Christ. The important thing to note is that for believers He puts down one ground for divorce: adultery.
Now suppose there is a believer whose spouse got a divorce on another ground. What about the innocent party? Well, if there has been adultery there, and in most cases there has been, then the innocent party is permitted to remarry. I believe that is the whole thought in this particular case.”
McGee, J. V. (1997). Thru the Bible commentary (electronic ed.). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Hope In Christ
Brothers, it is late and if I’m going to make my deadline for posting this to the blog for automatic e-mailing to subscribers I’m going to have to get this done quickly.
Today was an interesting day and it has me in a rather pensive mood. Earlier today I learned that a friend of mine, a man who reads this blog regularly and has been a great encouragement to me, is unemployed. I don’t know if this is a recent thing or has been a struggle for him for a while. I was unemployed myself several years ago for 9 months and I remember how worried I was and how frightening it got a few months into it. I also learned that another friend lost his father today. My dad is still with me so I can only imagine what he must be going through right now.
I ended the day, however, at a wedding for two young members of my church. They are not long out of college and they make a beautiful couple. I was truly happy to see them begin their life together as man and wife. My prayer is that their marriage will be what God intended all marriages to be from the beginning.
I look at the struggles we all face in this life and just when you think you might have to carry more than you can bear God shows you hope. It is hard for me to explain why I found hope in the wedding of these two young people. The wedding was proudly Christ centered and I suppose that is where I found that reassuring hope. Can one find hope in a job? Can one find hope in a marriage? Can one find hope in life itself? I believe the answer to all of these questions is no. The only place one can find hope is in Christ.
With Christ we find hope in every situation. With Christ we can find hope when we have a job and when we don’t. With Christ we can find hope in marriage and we can find hope when single. With Christ we can find hope in life, in illness, and in death. You see the struggles and troubles of life are meaningless when Christ is the center of our lives. Oh that isn’t to say that we shouldn’t feel our pain or bring it before God; He’s our heavenly Father and He wants us to come to him in sorrow and in joy.
As Christians, when we face trouble we know that it is only for a little while and that God will never give us a heavier burden than we can bear. Of course he knows our capacity better than we know ourselves so it may seem that He has given us too much, but He never does. When He is at the center of our lives He gives us peace even when we are in the center of a storm. We can trust Him because we have several thousand years of testimony that He keeps His promises. The record of that testimony is the Bible.
In today’s passages we read of Jesus being crucified. He didn’t have to come to earth to be crucified. He chose to do that. Can you imagine suffering as He did? Jesus came to fulfill many of God’s promises. He came to give us hope. As He went to the cross He knew that He would be raised from the dead three days later. He knew that His Father kept His promises and that after the pain there would be joy.
We also read today that Judas hung himself. He didn’t have hope. He didn’t have Jesus. Pain is part of life. Hope and joy are part of life in Christ. As Christians we get both. We live in a fallen world so we experience pain, but we have God’s Holy Spirit residing within us so we have hope as well.
I don’t know what struggle you may be facing today. Because you live in a fallen world I know you have struggles. It is my hope you also have Jesus Christ, for then you have hope as well. Turn to God in your pain and struggles brothers. Share your hurt and your fear with your Heavenly Father. Remember He walks with you through the fire and that on the other side is joy everlasting.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ!
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Married To A Prostitute
Hosea 1-7
We are introduced to Hosea today in our chronological reading plan. I’ve mentioned this before but to be more succinct, nearly all of the writing prophets appear during the period of the divided kingdom. When the kings failed God provided prophets. Hosea was a contemporary of Isaiah, Micah, and Amos. Isaiah and Micah preached to the southern kingdom (often referred to as “Judah”) while Hosea and Amos preached to the northern kingdom (often referred to as “Ephraim”). Hosea warned the northern kingdom that they would go into the Assyrian captivity and he lived to see this prophecy come to pass.
God instructed Hosea to take a prostitute as his wife. Don’t miss how crazy this had to sound. A prostitute commits adultery and, under God’s Law, should be stoned to death, yet God told Hosea to violate God’s Law and marry one! Is a prostitute more likely to be faithful or unfaithful? Marrying a prostitute is asking for trouble. Hosea married Gomer and low and behold she is unfaithful to him. Imagine the pain he must have felt.
Why did God instruct Hosea to take such a wife? The children of Israel were unfaithful to God. Over and over again God refers to their behavior as adulterous. He said they were “whoring” after other gods. How would you feel if your wife were known to be unfaithful to you? How would you feel if everyone knew she was prostituting herself to all comers? Hosea knew how that felt and therefore knew how God felt. It was from this place of understanding and pain that Hosea preached to the wayward northern kingdom.
God often uses the symbolism of marriage to describe a proper relationship with Him. In marriage a man and a woman are to become one flesh. They are to cleave to one another – never to be parted. The man is to be the head of the marriage. Put God in place of the husband and you in the place of the wife and you see what our relationship is supposed to be. You are to cleave unto God. You are to be faithful to Him and Him alone. He is the head of this relationship – you are under His authority.
Is your relationship with God a picture of a biblical marriage? Have you joined to Him forsaking all others? Have you submitted to His authority as head of your life? Perhaps your career, income, or any number of worldly things are more important to you than Him. Let me tell you brothers, if anything is more important to you than Him you are committing spiritual adultery – you are whoring after other gods.
When we dropped to our knees and asked for God’s forgiveness for our sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ we also submitted ourselves to His authority, we took a marriage vow, we said “I do”.
Hosea 2:16-20
“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.”
If you haven’t viewed yourself as being in a marriage relationship with God I would like to encourage you to do so. You belong to Him. Never forget it!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Marital Bliss
Song of Solomon 1-8
The Song of Solomon is also known as the “Song of Songs” or more completely “The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s”. I’m sure that when first written the reader needed to sit with a bucket of water ready to put out any smoldering fires that this hot marital love song might ignite! Today some of the imagery is lost on us. I suggest you be very careful if you ever try to quote the Song of Solomon to your wife as a gesture of your love. It doesn’t always translate well. The last phrase of chapter 4 verse 1 is a case in point.
Song of Solomon 4:1
“…Your hair is like a flock of goats
leaping down the slopes of Gilead.”
I don’t know about your wife but mine would not respond favorably to that particular “compliment”. Some men might actually get a frying pan upside the head if they made such a statement today. The point here is that God made man and woman to be “one flesh” in marriage. Your marriage is a blessing. Sex is a blessing given to those who unite in holy matrimony. It is not only okay to enjoy sexual relations with your wife it is advisable. More than that, your wife is the only legitimate outlet for your sexual fulfillment. I don’t know what challenges you might face in your marriage but, after your relationship with Christ, there is no other relationship more important. If you don’t have that relationship going well, everything else is going to be out of whack.
Enjoy your wife my friend. Give her the priority in your life that God intends. Don’t view her as an object for your own gratification but as a wonderful gift and blessing from God. Treat her like that and things will go well for you; of that I have no doubt!
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Progressing Toward Heaven
Luke 20 -21
Once again, several passages jumped out at me in today’s reading. One of them concerns what we will be like in the resurrection.
Luke 20:34-36
“And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.”
The words above were spoken in response to question posed by the Sadducees intended to trap Him. The Sadducees did not believe in resurrection. They believed that once you were dead you were dead. Their question revolved around marriage in heaven. The Law of Moses required an unmarried brother to take as a wife the spouse of a brother who died without leaving any heir. The Sadducees created a hypothetical scenario where seven brothers married the same woman prior to death. Their question was “Who is the woman’s husband in heaven”. Jesus straightened them out by telling us that we won’t be married in heaven.
But here is what really caught my eye. We know that once we get to heaven we won’t die anymore and that is a wonderful affirmation of something we tend to take for granted but what about being “equal to angels” and “sons of God”? Wow! Equal with angels and sons of God! How does any of that compare with the best of what this fallen world has to offer? To my eyes it makes what this fallen world has to offer appear shabby and worthless. The kingdom of God glimmers in my eye; it reflects the glory of God and makes me aware of true wealth.
That kingdom, that wealth, will be gained by the followers of Christ, but not without a period of travail in this realm of man and the prince of darkness.
Luke 21:12-19
“But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”
Is your relationship with Jesus and the challenges you will face on His behalf settled in your mind? Are you prepared to endure to the end? Some will be put to death for their faith in Christ but by endurance we each will gain our eternal lives.
How long will it be until Christ returns? We understand that Christ will return when the Gospel has been preached to the entire world. In fact, the Gospel has been traveling west since the death of Christ and now circled all the way around through China. The Gospel is approaching the end of the circle – Jerusalem. Christ will return when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
Luke 21:24
“They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
This verse refers to the fate of the Jews between the crucifixion of Christ and His return. The Jews have indeed suffered greatly and been lead into “captivity” and exile across the world. What intrigues me, however, is the “until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled”. This reminds me of the prophecy God gave Abraham in which He said that his descendants would spend an extended period of time in Egypt before taking possession of the Promised Land because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete”.
Genesis 15:16
“And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
You see, the Promised Land was to be given to the Jews but only after those that possessed it, the Amorites, had gone past the point of no return. God is righteous but He is also full of grace and mercy. He prepared the Jewish people for their inheritance while giving the Amorites time and opportunity to repent and return to Him. God knew they wouldn’t do so but He did not rush the matter. He let the time of the Amorites be fulfilled before destroying them and turning over the Promised Land to His Chosen People.
This is a picture of the return of Jesus Christ. The Gentiles have been given their time. God in His mercy is giving plenty of time for those that will come to Him to do so. The Gospel is being preached to all the world, and when all have heard it the time of the Gentiles will be fulfilled. At that time Christ will return and those that are not His will be removed from the Promised Land – the New Heaven and New Earth. In the mean time we, His Chosen People, are being prepared for our inheritance. How marvelous is God’s wisdom and provision! He has shown us in history what the future holds!
Continue to endure to the end brothers!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Servanthood
Luke 15-17
There is much in today’s reading concerning the behavior of a faithful servant. The Parable of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin both concern individuals that searched for what was lost. We tend to think of the shepherd and woman in these parables as analogous to God and the lost sheep and coin as analogous to us. This is an accurate analogy on one level, but there is another analogy that is routinely missed. Once we ourselves have been found, or saved, our role in the analogy changes. You were called by God through the instrument of another human being. The servants of God are the ones God sends to find the sheep and the lost coin. The shepherd and the woman are the servants of God searching for what was lost. As a saved person, you are the seeker after the lost in these parables.
These two parables immediately precede the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We usually focus on the foolish son who represents the lost. We recognize in that wayward son our selves prior to salvation. This is accurate with regard to that time in our life, but the story isn’t really about the wayward son. Oh, he is an important part of the story but let us remember what scripture came before immediately prior. We had a shepherd searching for a lost sheep and a woman searching for a lost coin. Who went searching for the lost son? We hear nothing of the brother of the lost son until the end of the story when we learn that he is angry that there is a celebration for the return of his brother. He did not go searching for his brother. He was content to remain where he was and simply claim his inheritance. He was blind and indifferent to the longing of his father for the return of his lost brother.
We seem so focused on the condition of our own souls. The condition of our souls is important, but once we are saved, that issue is settled. Having been saved we are to be about our fathers business. We are to be concerned about the condition of the souls of those around us. You are no longer lost. You are no longer the lost person in these parables. You are now the searching servant in these parables. Are you the one who diligently searches for that which was lost or are you content to receive your inheritance with no concern for your lost brother? Do you care about that which your Father cares about? He longs for the return of His wayward children. Are you blind and indifferent to the desire of His heart or are you prepared to search for that which was lost?
These first three parables are followed with parables and statements by Jesus concerning our behavior as servants of God. There is the Parable of the Dishonest Manger, which I must admit has me scratching my head a bit and requires a bit of further study on my part. There are the statements concerning divorce, temptation, faith, thankfulness, and hardship; all lessons for the servant of God.
There is one verse, one sentence really, on divorce. It is dynamite. If I am not careful with this verse I envision igniting a conflagration; an explosion of controversy, debate, and angry feelings. I am addressing this verse only and specifically in terms of servanthood. I have no desire to get into anything more about this verse than that specific topic. The verse is this:
Luke 16:18
“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”
When we marry we become one flesh with our spouse. God never intended for one flesh to be torn asunder. I believe scripture is clear; God HATES divorce. Still over 50% of American marriages suffer the catastrophic consequences of divorce. I suspect that if any of us have not experienced divorce ourselves, we have loved ones or friends who have. It is a painful, destructive, tearing of that which was never intended to be divided. The pain from divorce is rarely limited to the less than happy couple. It also affects children, family, and friends and continues on for each as a dull ache for the rest of their life. I hope our feelings toward those that have suffered this pain are of compassion rather of self-righteous contempt.
That said, this sentence on divorce from Jesus can teach us something about being His servant. The trouble with humanity is self-centeredness. This malady, which is the driving force behind sin, is the poison that destroys marriages. In today’s reading Jesus makes it clear that following Him means we are servants. If you are His servant, and you acknowledge that all that you have belongs to Him and is placed in your care to manage for Him, then your attitude toward your wife is completely different from that of the rest of the world. Most people look at their spouse as a source of fulfillment and happiness for themselves. When our spouse doesn’t provide that fulfillment or happiness we become angry and resentful. Eventually we feel we deserve better and start looking for “greener pastures”.
All of this comes from an attitude of self-centeredness. If we belong to Him we should view ourselves as servants. We should not view our spouse as a source of fulfillment and happiness but as one we must serve as faithful followers of Jesus Christ who gave our spouse for the purpose of protection and provision. This does not simply refer to meeting their physical needs of protection and provision but their spiritual and emotional needs as well. What would marriage be like if both individuals put the well being of their spouse before their own? Do disagreements disappear? Does resentment and anger disappear? Does happiness and fulfillment in marriage re-appear? I believe the answer to all of the above is YES!
Now you may say, “I’m willing to serve my wife but she isn’t willing to serve me.” There you go again, focusing on yourself. Whether your spouse is faithful to the expectations of Jesus in your marriage or not, is between Jesus and your spouse. The “sins” of your spouse are no excuse for you to sin. Frankly obedience on your part may over time be used as an example by the Holy Spirit to convict your spouse to follow suit. This is part of what it means to be the spiritual leader of your home. You must do right before you can expect others under your leadership to do right. Even if this desired change in your spouse never occurs, however, you still owe obedience to your master Jesus Christ.
We must learn the attitude of servanthood in our daily walk and interactions with others. I think Jesus communicates the appropriate attitude pretty well in the following verses from today’s reading.
Luke 15:7-10
““Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
We don’t really like the idea of being that kind of servant do we? Work hard and then work some more while others sit back and enjoy the fruit of our labor. That rankles doesn’t it? It does so because we want to be the master. Guys, we aren’t the Master; we are the servant. Jesus provided the example. He could have come in His power and glory and forced every head to bow and knee to bend; but He didn’t. He came as a servant. He came to sacrifice for our good. He turned His back on being served and came to serve. How can we do anything less?
We need an attitude adjustment in our daily walk. We need to be good stewards of all that Jesus placed in our care. If we wish to hear “well done good and faithful servant” upon our entrance to His throne room then we must start putting the needs of others first. We must take on the attitude of humble servant in our relationship with God, our spouse, and others. Let us meet the expectation of our Master with joy and thanksgiving for our reward will be exceedingly great!
Have a servant like day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Matthew 19
