"A Binding Covenant"

Marriage was created as a never ending contract. It is not something to be taken lightly. The world views marriage as it needs to be fun and if it is not then time to get out. What should we, as Christians, view marriage as?

Continuing with the Sermon on the mount. Jesus goes on to intensify what is written in the law. Why does he intensify the law?

He tells us just don’t do this, but we really don’t understand why.

My brother and I were always trouble makers growing up. Parents told us, “Don’t do this because this might happen.

My parents at this time had 2 lamps made of clay. They put them on night stands in the television room on each side of the couch. My brother and I liked to wrestle around and rough house. We also climbed on furniture. One day we were wrestling around and running on the couch and one of us accidently kicked the lamp off of its stand and it hit the floor and busted into a million pieces. Our parents were angry and told us not to play around the lamp. A few days after that we were playing in the tv room again and we started pushing each other. This was a bad idea by the way cause neither of us wanted to be out pushed. Of course it escalated and we were wrestling and running on the couch. I was running after my brother and he jumped off the side of the couch right by the lamp. It would have been ok if he had been a couple more inches to the left but he grazed the lamp shade and it began to sway back and forth. Then it fell and broke.

On my cousin’s tenth birthday we were at his house, the entire family. My brother Cory, my cousin’s Ethan and Justin and myself were playing in the yard. We liked to play a game called cops and robbers. This is how we played it, 2 people were the robbers, or bad guys however you like to say it, and they were running from the 2 other people, the cops. Now we always used the same teams, Justin and I were the robbers, and Cory and Ethan were the cops. So Justin and I had just been spotted and were running from the cops. Justin was a ten and I was seven at the time so he could run faster than I could. To explain a little bit, there was a tree that was getting old and about to fall down. My uncle had warned my cousins not to go near the tree. So Justin and I were running from the other 2. Justin was about 20 feet ahead of me and all of a sudden he stops and turns around. I have no idea what he is doing so I stop as well. As I am watching he reaches up and grabs this twig. All of a sudden something hits me on the back of the head and the wind gets knocked out of me. This tree branch was about 30 plus feet long and was about 8 inches in diameter. I wobble and fall flat on my face, and then I gasp for air and start crying. My mom has been watching this whole ordeal. The tree branch that hit me did not even move off course when it hit me so that you could not tell that it hit me. As soon as I start crying she springs into action. She is trying to stop the bleeding, looking around for brain matter because at this point blood is gushing from my head. We get in the car and head for the hospital. Justin disappeared, they could not find the birthday boy. Ended up he had went and hid because he thought that he killed me. So we get to the hospital, they take care of me. My mom calls the office of where my dad works, he works at a steel mill, and told them to tell him to come to the hospital. He thinks it’s my brother with another asthma attack. He comes in and tells the desk who he is and they say, “O, your son was the one who got hit by a tree!” This threw my dad for a loop. He rushes in because he is worried, as soon as he gets in the room my mom goes weak at the knees. She had been strong so far but once he came she knew he would take care of things. She needed to relax.

Imagine, all of this could have been avoided if we just listened to what they told us. They told us not to do things so that other things, bad things, wouldn’t happen. They didn’t tell us don’t break a lamp, they told us don’t play around the lamps so there is even less possibility of breaking it.

Don’t go around this unstable tree branch it might fall down, not don’t pull on the tree branch. It was to keep us farther away from things that could possibly hurt us.

Likewise Jesus intensified the law to help us not fall into sin. The closer you get to something the easier it is to do what you were told not to do, so this is to keep us farther away from sinning and we should listen.

‘Murder’

Matt. 5:21-26

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the fires of hell. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

We would all agree that killing someone is wrong.

Other types of murder:

Personal Murder(suicide)

Physician assisted murder(Euthanasia)

Pre-natal Murder(abortion)

Taking a life that is not yours to take. God created every man and he should have the right to kill it, not us.

God commands us not to be angry with your brother?

1Jn 3:15  Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1Jn 4:20-21  If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Yes we are required to love our brothers, because if we are unable to love someone we know about, how can we love someone who we have not even seen? It is not possible.

It is very easy to say I won’t murder someone. But how and where does murder start? It starts in the head.

I don’t like this person…I want to get rid of them.

Gen 4:3-5  In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

Soon after this Cain killed Abel. Even the first murder was premeditated.

Jesus commands us, not to just worry about the outside action of killing someone, but to deal with the inside that drives us to do the outward actions. If we do not think I want to kill this person then we cannot put it into action. We can’t act on what we don’t first think.

All sins start in the heart long before it becomes action.

It starts by not liking someone, then goes to verbally saying that you hate the person then it goes to actions, which one eventual action may be murder.

Matt. 5:27-30 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Jesus tells us simply to flee from situations that cause us to sin. Get away from them, avoid situations you cannot handle.

All sins start in the heart long before it becomes action. You have not committed the sin but if you allow it to enter into your mind it will keep becoming more and more of an urge to do.

This applies to everyone but since I don’t know how girls think. Guys, Oh she looks so good, I wonder what it would be like to touch her, maybe even kiss her. This type of thinking has become more of a problem, taking the form of pornography.

This is a lie that Satan is feeding us, these thoughts and these ideas will never satisfy us.

What’s more it will ruin what God has given us that was meant to satisfy us. We make an alternative standard of what will satisfy or more likely what we think will satisfy. We start making expectations that can never be met.

Mat 6:22-23  “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

This is not talking about being blind. It’s talking about what we let ourselves see, what we learn is what comes out of us. If we put someone on an  island with just a bible they would only be filled with Godly things. If we put someone in with druggies they would become a druggy. If we put someone in with sexually active people they would become sexually active people. They would think it is ok because everyone there thinks it is acceptable.

Whatever we let in our bodies will manifest itself somehow.

Mat 7:16-20  You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

What you allow inside is what will come out. Filthy language. Watch inappropriate movie. Play shooter games. They will affect you.

Dave Stone co-pastors a very large church in Louisville, KY. On his desk he keeps a picture of his family, a picture of the church facility and a newspaper article of a well known pastor who had an affair. He keeps all this on his desk to remind him of who he is and who would be hurt if he was to ever sin sexually.

‘A Binding Covenant’

Now I can’t find this in the Bible, but perhaps you’ve heard the story that before Eve was created, God was talking with Adam. He said, “You really need a helper, don’t you?” And Adam answered, “Yeah, I really do.”

So God said, “What if I make a woman? She’ll be perfect for you. She’ll be beautiful. She’ll rub your back at night, & your feet in the morning. She’ll plop grapes into your mouth. She’ll prepare all your favorite meals without fail. She’ll clean up the kitchen & take care of the kids. You’ll never have to do a thing, just sit around & be the king of your household.”

Adam said, “Boy, that sounds great, but how much is this going to cost?” God said, “Well, it’s pretty expensive. It will cost you an arm & a leg.” Adam thought for a moment & then asked, “How much can I get for a rib?”

Gen 2:23-24  Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Something is radically wrong with homes today. The family is under fire and home life is disintegrating. Year by year the stress put on marriages grows greater. In 1870 there was one divorce for every 34 marriages. By 1900 it was one in five, and by 1950 it was one in three. In the past few years there has been virtually one divorce for every two marriages.

Marriage was created as a never ending contract. It is supposed to be life long.

If the 2 are to be one flesh then it is not good to separate them. Flesh is damaged when it is torn apart, likewise marriage, the two people, are torn apart because of the separation.

Marriage is strongest the first time. After that it starts getting weaker, it is harder to keep it together. It is easier the next time to say well this marriage is turning out like the last one. It is easier to do an action the second time than the first so getting a divorce will be easier.

More baggage being brought into the marriage adds to the stresses.

Expectations to be met. You or that person want certain things that were good before to be good again.

Marriage is not something to be taken lightly. This is a really big step to take, and everyone should make sure this is what they want.

Many people enter into marriage without the idea that this is permanent. Sometimes people get married very quickly, some people within a month.

Yes getting married quickly is entirely possible but much harder to make permanent. It is not possible to know someone in a month as well as you could if you took even 6 months. The passage of time is necessary for those of you who are unmarried, take your time if it is right then that person will wait. Love is patient.

The world views marriage as it needs to be fun and if it is not then time to get out. Fun does not always mean right. Sometimes it is work and not at all fun. This is part of any relationship, you need to work, give to make that relationship last.

1Co 7:15  But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.

There are some of you who have been divorced, it is in the past and cannot be changed now. You should not worry about the past that you cannot change but give your best effort to fix your future relationships if you are aiming at remarriage.

Matt. 5:31-32 “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.

If you made the divorce happen then you are the one responsible, if your unbelieving partner makes the divorce then you are not responsible and God will not hold it against you.

With marriage the thing to remember is you made a commitment to that person and, even bigger, God, saying that you will stay with this person until you die. So you better try to make it work the best you can because you will have to give answer to God.

So the lesson to definitely learn from here is to guard your heart because what goes into your heart will determine who you are and what you do, whether that is good or bad. The things and people you surround yourself with will affect who you are.