2002-12-06
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
When I first began to study the Scriptures many years ago, I was quite baffled by the Lord’s use of the word, “salt.” Of course, I had always known it as that white granular substance that is used to give food a certain flavor interest and that it had a bad reputation for causing high blood pressure when certain people eat too much of it. Then came along the use of this word as it appears in MT 5: 13. [Christ speaking], “You are like salt for all mankind. But if salt loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it.” If we stop and think about it, Christ was using this term for His disciples. Salt, in addition to seasoning food, hinders corruption, creates thirst, and brings out the flavor. So, believers in Christ preserve society, add piquancy to it, cause thirst for God’s word, and make others long for righteousness. To be the “salt of the earth,” we, as believers in Christ, must live out the terms of discipleship as outlined in the Beatitudes and throughout the rest of the Sermon on the Mount [MT 5: 1-12]. If we don’t choose to do this, then others will have only contempt for Christ’s testimony, and God’s work of spreading the Good News can’t be done effectively.
It is with this in mind that I am led to continue discussing the breakdown of the family unit with the intent of seeing it’s mechanism, it’s effect on children being reared in the home, and its effect on society. With the space I have, it will be impossible to complete all of this today, but we can see how this is often the work of the devil and against God’s plan. The first real comment about divorce comes in MAL 2: 13-16 in a passage on the people’s unfaithfulness to God. “This is another thing you do. You drown the Lord’s altar with tears, weeping and wailing because He no longer accepts the offerings you bring Him. You ask why He no longer accepts them. It is because He knows you have broken your promise to your wife you married when you were young. She was your partner, and you have broken your promise to her, although you promised before God that you would be faithful to her. Did God not make you one body and spirit with her? What was His purpose in this? It was that you should have children who are truly God’s people. So make sure that none of you breaks his promise to his wife. ‘I hate divorce,’ says the Lord God of Israel. ‘I hate it when one of you does such a cruel thing to his wife. Make sure that you do not break your promise to be faithful to your wife.’” Now, let’s spend whatever time it takes to examine the question: Why does God hate divorce?
We must understand that Malachi was writing from about 435-415 BC, and that Jewish society was very patriarchal. However, we can be sure that if he were writing today from the perspective of our culture, he might be leveling the same comments to include a wife who is unfaithful to her husband. I’m willing to stick my neck out and say that God has the same distaste for divorce because of that as He does because of a husband being unfaithful to his wife. If we look at 1 COR 7: 15, we see the only place I’ve found in the Scriptures with a reason God would approve of ending a marriage. It’s in the case of a partner who steadfastly rejects God and wants to leave for the sake of peace. But getting back to the question above, let’s see what God hopes will happen in a mixed marriage, i.e. a marriage between a believer and a non-believer. It is His hope that the “salt” of the believer will “season” the non-believer bringing that partner to faith. From the point of view of society, such marriages that live up to the vow of “for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, etc” are ones where the marital partners are willing to look for solutions to their problems rather than run away from them. We must also remember that if the partners come to real faith, they will make the changes in their marriage necessary to more closely conform to the standard God sets up in EPH 5: 21-6: 4.
Now, let’s look at the mechanism Satan uses for breaking down marriages. He uses temptations directed at the weaknesses of the flesh, like pornography, lust, nagging, ignorance, imbalances between work and home lives, secrets, grudges, fraud, greed, etc. All of these thing negate the “saltiness” of a believer; they demonstrate a poor quality of faith at the very least. Many is the time when people came in to me seeking a counselor, because they never learned to communicate effectively with each other and were on the way to divorcing. I have always seen it as time to consult the Lord and learn to use some common sense. Our worldly society has never taken enough time and made enough of an effort to consider what all these divorces are doing to it. In tomorrow’s message, we’ll look at the impact of divorce on children. Suffice it to say that our Lord Jesus has a great deal to say about it in MT 19, and we’ll look more closely at that tomorrow too. For now we need to think about what is in MT 19: 4-6, “Jesus answered, ‘Have you not read the Scripture [GN 1: 27; 5: 2] that says that in the beginning the Creator made people male and female? And God said ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and unite with his wife, and the two will become one.'’ So they are no longer two, but one. Man must not separate, then, what God has joined together.”
PRAYER: O Lord, with so many divorces impacting today’s society, You draw us to reflect on that subject and deliberate on what it means to our own individual lives. If we are single and want to get married, then You are asking us to make careful choices, taking the time to know our perspective partners well before committing to the relationship that You have designed to be for life. If we are already married, then You are asking us to work at making whatever changes are necessary to cause our marriages to conform to the ideal You gave us through Paul in EPH 5: 21-6:4. Dearest Abba, this doesn’t come easy for some of us. We need to be sure that You are an active and dynamic Partner with full opportunities to communicate Your will to us. We must learn to resolve our conflicts with Your help, and must understand that You are eager to give it. PS 46: 1, “God is our Shelter and Strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” We pray the simple words of PS 27:11, “Teach me how to live, O Lord.” You direct us to use the blessings of our salvation, the opportunities to read Your word with understanding and wisdom given to us by the Your Spirit indwelt in us. You urge us to seek You out in prayer. In ancient Jewish society, the bride and groom were likened to a king and queen on their wedding day. There is no reason why we can’t continue to think of our spouse as our king or queen for a lifetime, honoring them and honoring You. Without faith in Christ Who gave His life for us, trust and obedience in You, and our willingness to place our hope in You, we cannot succeed in rectifying what is wrong with our society. Satan gets a stronghold he should never have in our lives. So, we also pray the words of PS 33:22, “Yes, Lord, let Your constant love surround us, for our hopes are in You alone.” We humbly confess our sins, pledge to keep our marriages strong, and offer You our adoration, worship, loyalty, diligence, honor, glory, trust, obedience, thanks, and praise. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Our discussion on divorce continues in tomorrow’s message, as promised above. Just as the eastern star guided the Magi to the stable where our Lord was born, so our loving Abba provides us with yet another star to guide us through our lives-the Scriptures and His words to us in prayer. The world we live in is a place that becomes more evil every day, and the Lord has always known we would have to endure that. However, Christ’s death on the cross was His ultimate demonstration of love for His creation. That gave us victory over death and a way out from slavery to sin. All we had to do was to repent and come to faith. Such grace, undeserved merit, is a great privilege balanced with a responsibilities. The privilege is our salvation and the peace that comes from profound faith in Him. The responsibility is to live “in Christ,” which in this context means to honor our marriages and our covenant partnership with Him. When we do this, the Lord blesses us and will continue to bless us throughout eternity with a life of joy and fellowship with Him and with each other. What greater gift can we have? Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn