Jesus and the Divorcee (1 of 4)
Series: Imperfect Love
Steve Jones
John 4
INTRODUCTION: A woman sits down on a bus next to an attractive man. She says to him "You look like my sixth husband." He said "SIXTH husband! How many husbands have you had?" She said "Five."
Like the man on the bus, Jesus met a woman who had been married and divorced five times and was currently sizing up her sixth prospect. I want to talk about their encounter today. This is not a lesson on divorce per se. Most of us already know that the divorce rate is too high. Many of us have either been divorced; have immediate family who are divorced or very close friends who are divorced.
And most of us already know that divorce is not good. God says in Malachi 2:16 "I hate divorce". I doubt anyone understands the reasons why God hates divorce better than those families who have experienced it. Under the piles of statistics are real people who have experienced real pain and heartache. When I mention the word "divorce" some of us may have tightened stomachs and maybe even wish we hadn't come today (including ME).
As we talk about Jesus and the Divorcee this morning we want to avoid two extremes. We want to avoid the extreme of permissiveness. I don't want anyone to leave this morning with the idea that the preacher condones divorce and thinks it's no big deal or nothing serious. Nor do I want to move in the direction of harshness and judgmentalism. We always want to strike a balance between grace and truth and no one ever did that any better than Jesus.
What is God's attitude toward those who have been divorced and remarried, maybe even more than once? What should our attitude be in the church? Where do the divorced fit in God's plan? I believe that the answers to those questions are revealed, at least to some extent, in Jesus' encounter with the divorced Samaritan woman in John chapter four. In the story of ...
Series: Imperfect Love
Steve Jones
John 4
INTRODUCTION: A woman sits down on a bus next to an attractive man. She says to him "You look like my sixth husband." He said "SIXTH husband! How many husbands have you had?" She said "Five."
Like the man on the bus, Jesus met a woman who had been married and divorced five times and was currently sizing up her sixth prospect. I want to talk about their encounter today. This is not a lesson on divorce per se. Most of us already know that the divorce rate is too high. Many of us have either been divorced; have immediate family who are divorced or very close friends who are divorced.
And most of us already know that divorce is not good. God says in Malachi 2:16 "I hate divorce". I doubt anyone understands the reasons why God hates divorce better than those families who have experienced it. Under the piles of statistics are real people who have experienced real pain and heartache. When I mention the word "divorce" some of us may have tightened stomachs and maybe even wish we hadn't come today (including ME).
As we talk about Jesus and the Divorcee this morning we want to avoid two extremes. We want to avoid the extreme of permissiveness. I don't want anyone to leave this morning with the idea that the preacher condones divorce and thinks it's no big deal or nothing serious. Nor do I want to move in the direction of harshness and judgmentalism. We always want to strike a balance between grace and truth and no one ever did that any better than Jesus.
What is God's attitude toward those who have been divorced and remarried, maybe even more than once? What should our attitude be in the church? Where do the divorced fit in God's plan? I believe that the answers to those questions are revealed, at least to some extent, in Jesus' encounter with the divorced Samaritan woman in John chapter four. In the story of ...
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