“Marriage and Children”

(Matthew 19:1-15)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

March 8, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 19:1-15

1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he departed from Galilee and went to the region of Judea across the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there. 3 Some Pharisees approached him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on any grounds?”

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that he who created them in the beginning made them male and female, 5 and he also said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

7 “Why then,” they asked him, “did Moses command us to give divorce papers and to send her away?”

8 He told them, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of the hardness of your hearts, but it was not like that from the beginning. 9 I tell you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery.”

10 His disciples said to him, “If the relationship of a man with his wife is like this, it’s better not to marry.”

11 He responded, “Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given. 12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, there are eunuchs who were made by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept it should accept it.”

13 Then children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 Jesus said, “Leave the children alone, and don’t try to keep them from coming to me, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 After placing his hands on them, he went on from there.

Introductory Comments:

Well, we are continuing our series in the Gospel of Matthew. I want to say to you, church, thank you for hanging with this sermon series over the last couple of weeks as we’ve dealt with some heavy topics such as rebuking sin and forgiving our brother or sister an extreme amount of times. Finally, we can relax as we’re dealing with a very light topic today: divorce. 

The truth of the matter is that divorce is a topic that has affected nearly all of us in some way. Many of us have friends and family who are divorced, some of us have divorced parents, and some of us are divorced ourselves. It was no different in Jesus’ day: marriages have been suffering since not long after God created marriage. 

So, today, as we cover this important topic, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to guide us through this.

(prayer)

Do we remember Jesus’ prediction time and again that He must go to Jerusalem to suffer? Well, that journey begins here in this passage. Let’s check out Matthew 19 verses 1 and 2:

1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he departed from Galilee and went to the region of Judea across the Jordan. 2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

So, Jesus has finished teaching in the region of Galilee and now He is moving into the region of Judea, on His way to Jerusalem for His arrest, trial, and execution. 

As Jesus is traveling, as with most places that He goes, large crowds of people are following Him. 

People want to know what Jesus is teaching. They want to experience His miraculous healing. They wanted an encounter with Jesus. Jesus was willing and able to change their lives and we see that He did. Matthew writes, “ . . . he healed them there.”

There is also one group of people that wanted to trap Him: the Pharisees. They keep trying to trick and trap Jesus, but they fail time and again. 

They ask Jesus a question, which leads to several truths that are important for us to deal with today. 

Let’s discover these truths together. First, let’s