Title: Jesus Binds us
Together
By
Pastor Lohn
Johnson
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Text:
Mark 10:6-9 (ESV)
6 But from
the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ 7 ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and
mother and hold fast to his wife, 8 and
the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh.
9 What therefore God has joined together, let
not man separate.”
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INTRODUCTION
My dear
friends in Christ, A young couple decided to wed. As the big day approached,
they grew apprehensive. Each had a problem they had never before shared with
anyone, not even each other.
The
groom-to-be, overcoming his fear, decided to ask his father for advice. “Dad,”
he said, “I am deeply concerned about the success of my marriage. I love
my fiancée very much, but you see, I have very smelly feet, and I’m afraid
that my future wife will be put off by them.” “No problem,”
said his dad. “All you have to do is wash your feet as often as possible
and always wear socks, even to bed.” Well, to him this seemed a workable
solution.
The
bride-to-be, overcoming her fear, decided to take her problem up with her
mom. “Mom,” she said, “When I wake up in the morning my breath is
truly awful.”
“Honey,”
her mother consoled, “everyone has bad breath in the morning.”
“No,
you don’t understand. My morning breath is so bad, I’m afraid that my new
husband will not want to sleep in the same room with me.” Her
mother said simply, “Try this. In the morning, get straight out of bed and
head for the bathroom and brush your teeth. The key is not to say a word
until you’ve brushed your teeth. Not a word,” her mother affirmed. Well,
she thought it was certainly worth a try.
The
loving couple was finally married in a beautiful ceremony. Not forgetting the
advice each had received, he with his perpetual socks and she with her
morning silence, they managed quite well. That is, until about six months
later.
Shortly
before dawn, the husband woke with a start to find that one of his socks had
come off. Fearful of the consequences, he frantically searched the bed. This,
of course, woke his bride, who without thinking, immediately asked, “What
on earth are you doing?” “Oh, no!” he gasped in shock, “You’ve
swallowed my sock!” (1)
Terrible joke, I know. But would anybody argue with me
that we take marriage far too lightly in our society? It is a serious matter.
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I. But to understand the seriousness of marriage we
must look at God’s intention in establishing marriage.
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A. To
understand God’s intention we must go back to creation.
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1. Adam was
made a complete, self-contained individual. Adam was made from the
earth (Adam means earth or earth man).
2. And Adam
was made to be in relationship.
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a. He was the
image of God, and even God exists in a trinity of Persons in relationship
with each other. God is never alone even in Himself.
b. And so it
was not good that Adam was alone.
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B. And so God
put Adam to sleep and took something away from him to give him
more.
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1. The word that is used
here may mean a human rib bone, but, more often it refers simply to “a
side of something.” But it may be better not to think of God removing a
single rib from Adam, but you might say He divided His “female side” out.
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a. So guys,
there’s no point getting in touch with your “female side.” You don’t
have one. Your female side is your wife.
b. So God
built a woman. She isn’t made from the earth like Adam, but from his
side.
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2. Adam awoke
and instantly recognized his own reflection in her. “This at last is bone
of my bones and flesh of my flesh.”
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a. She was
like him but not interchangeable with him. And in union with her, he receives
what was taken and more. This is the mystery of our being male and female,
and why we are so fascinated by each other.
b. “One
flesh” means something whole worked by the creative Word of God that
cannot be undone by a piece of paperwork. This is what elevates human
sexuality above the animal. The birds do it, the bees do it, all our fellow
creatures do it, but when we, who are made in the image of God, do it,
something greater and more significant takes place. “They are no longer
two but one flesh.”
c. Maybe you can see it like this:
Perhaps you saw the original "Rocky" film….
Do you remember the
love relationship Rocky had with Adrian in "Rocky?" She was the
little wallflower who worked in the pet shop, the sister of Pauly, an
insensitive goon who worked at the meat house. Pauly couldn't understand why
Rocky was attracted to Adrian. "I don't see it," he said.
"What's the attraction?" Do you remember Rocky's answer?
Rocky said, "I don't know, fills gaps I guess." "What's
gaps?" asks Pauly. "She's got gaps," says Rocky,
"I got gaps. Together we fill gaps." In his simple but
profound way, Rocky hit upon a great truth. He was saying that he and Adrian
each had empty places in their lives. But when the two of them got together,
they filled those blank spots in one another. Rocky saw a bit of what Adam
saw. It would pay for each of us to see this too.
d. And note that none of this is connected in any way
to same sex anything. That is never a part of God’s intention. It’s
part of our next section.
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II. It’s
too bad that we wreck what God intended—that’s what our text is about.
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A. It was Sin
that changed all that God had intended.
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1. It brought
shame, and self-centeredness. Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with
their own fig leaves. They hid from God. They blamed each other.
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a. The union
between man and woman became a competition to see who would rule. Their “one
flesh” union became a struggle leading to divorce and adultery.
b. We bear
witness to that in the brokenness of our own lives – in our multiple “one
flesh” unions, our divorces, our adulteries, our same sex union, and all
the ways we attempt to justify ourselves in these wrong ideas and deeds.
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2. Now you see
how Jesus can make the blanket statement that to divorce and marry again
inevitably results in adultery, because the “one flesh” union has been
adulterated, and no amount of legal fiction will make it right.
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a. Divorce can never be "justified."
Just like no other sin can be “justified.”
b. On the contrary, divorce’s very existence stands as
an indictment of the human condition. Divorce reflects the pervasive reality
of sin. Divorce reflects our "hardness of heart."
"Hardness of heart" results in a life where divorce becomes
common.
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B. Already by asking the "Is it lawful?"
question, the Pharisees reveal their hardened hearts. Hard hearts want to
show God how right they are.
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1. This text is about exposing the hardness of hearts.
This text is seeking to expose every one of us -- Pharisees, disciples, and
even you and me. It’s a hardness that not only has put us at odds with one
another but also with God!
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a. And in case
you are sitting there smugly with your happy marriage and thinking, “I
thank God I’m not like one of those he’s talking about,” well, remember
what Jesus said about that stray look and that adulterous thought. You’ve
already committed adultery too.
b. All of us
have hard hearts too. So for us there are no loopholes, no arguments or
self-justifications.
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2. And think
about how far Sin has corrupted the good that God has given.
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a. Think about
how Sin has dulled that joy that Adam spoke of when he first laid eyes on Eve
and said, “Finally – bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh!”
b. Think about
how Sin takes the joy of the wedding day and turns it into a drudgery and
weariness so that religious people can come up to Jesus looking for a reason
to divorce their wives.
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III. But
fortunately God fixes what we have broken in a unique way.
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A. God
joined together your sins--all of them--with Jesus. It was why He came.
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1. Jesus was
condemned in your place. He stood before Pilate as the One, and the only One,
who had to die.
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a. And as
Jesus was thrust onto a cross, God put every sin-- your sins of thought, and
word, and deed--all your sins God joined to Jesus. He was so covered with sin
that St. Paul says of Him, “He became sin for us.”
b. And
then He died. And your sins were buried with Christ in His tomb. And when
Jesus rose on the third day, He left your sins behind. They can haunt you no
more. The deed is done.
c. In baptism
your sinful flesh dies with Christ, but you, rise with Christ free and
forgiven. God has brought us to the Second Adam and joins us to Him in our
baptisms. He has made us one with Him. “What God has joined
together, let man not separate.”
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2. Remember
your sins are joined to Jesus...and He left them in His tomb. And you
cannot have them anymore.
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a. You cannot
continue to live in them. And so put them away from your heart and
life.
b. Do not
separate your sins from Jesus. He took them from you because He loves you. He
took them and you are forgiven.
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B. Now for us
marriage takes on this flavor too.
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1. God is the
One who joins husbands and wives together. But instead of just two joined, He
also joins us with Jesus in our marriages. Like this: In 1986 they discovered
a boat from the first century in the mud along the shore of the Sea of
Galilee during a drought. Immediately word spread of this fantastic
discovery...the first 2000 year old boat every found in the Sea of Galilee.
Newspapers dubbed it “the Jesus boat,” but it is not known for sure
whether or not Jesus may have used it. Still, it did ply the waters of the
Galilee during Jesus’ day. The problem was how to get the boat out of the mud
and into a museum without having it fall apart at the seams. The wood was
terribly brittle and had to be kept in water to keep from cracking. Somebody
got the idea of filling it with polyurethane foam which was sprayed into the
boat and around the boat, so it looked like an overgrown, melted marshmallow.
Thus filled, the boat rose and floated at lake level. For the first time in
two millennia, the boat “sailed” again to the cheers of an on-looking
crowd. There is symbolism here. We are that brittle boat and
Jesus is the polyurethane foam.
2. I know
that as Adam was incomplete without Eve, so we are incomplete without Jesus.
Our marriages are even held together by Him. We can look to Him for
forgiveness for past sins and look to Him to hold us together when our sin
tends to drive us apart.
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CONCLUSION: We
are not alone abandoned in our sin, lost in our hardness of heart. We
are not left to our crumbling relationships. But Jesus has come. He has
taken our sin and gives us forgiveness. In Baptism we are made one with
Him. Being one with Jesus changes our perspective on life – it changes
our perspective on marriage. He is what holds us together by the
power of His love and forgiveness.
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