Matthew 19:3-9 War on Chicken

Matthew 19:3-9  Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?"  (4)  And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,  (5)  and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'?  (6)  "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."  (7)  They *said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?"  (8)  He *said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way.  (9)  "And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery." (NASB)

So I took some time off this week, the week we would normally be at a lake – Tahoe ideally or Shaver when the gas price is too high to drag everything that far north.  But this year the calendar didn’t work for everyone so we stayed home.  I however had the days booked for vacation and took some time off.  Well, I did a few things around the house and yes I actually did come into work Friday but what I really did was watch the Olympics.  And of course – the War on Chicken!

I frankly had missed the CEO of Chick-fil-A declaring his support for the Biblical view of marriage and his financial support for a couple of organizations that promoted the same.  What I couldn’t miss was the media frenzy over the homosexual marriage supporters bashing this man’s transparency of belief.

On top of that I found it very interesting to find that these folks drew a comparison to Hitler and the KKK for someone standing on biblical principal claiming intolerance not only of homosexuality but marriage of homosexual couples; Intolerance of the “Intolerant”?  Is that what I heard?

Later in the discussion, I’ll not call it a debate – those who heeded the call of Governor Huckabee to support Chick-fil-A by buying lunch were called all sorts of names.  The Bible itself was bashed in several threads I read on Face Book as well.

So, if you’re reading this and you can’t subscribe to the fact the Word of God is the ultimate truth then we have nothing left to discuss.  YOU, may as well tune out now.  For those of you that believe God’s Word is true then stay tuned and we’ll look at what He says about the issue at hand.

First, the Scripture I’ve referred to today was shared by Christ when another group of haters, the Pharisees were trying to trick Jesus.  They asked a “Trick” question about divorce to see if they could stump Him.  They didn’t.  In answering their question for which they did not want to hear the answer, Jesus did give us some real insight into His original and perfect design.

He says, “He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE”.  Referring back to Genesis, Jesus reminds us that the original design of God is one man and one woman.  He goes on and declares what is to happen as humans mature, “FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH”.  This is clearly speaking of marriage.  The man, leaves the home in which he grows up and joins together with his wife and the two become one.  The players are equally clear – one man and one woman  just as He “created them from the beginning”.

So, what is the BIG deal Dale?

Christians know and understand that marriage is designed and affirmed by God as a special institution between one man and one woman.  And something supernatural occurs in the marriage union, "So they are no longer two, but one flesh.”  And they are one flesh because of the marriage bond of one woman and one man joined together not of their own doing but by someone else altogether.  Jesus says, ”What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."  So, in His own words, Jesus proclaims the union of a man and woman in marriage of His own doing and His own design.

That’s the BIG deal.

Now, sin is sin and two unregenerate people lusting in their flesh for one another even of the same sex is predictable.  Scripture says this, “For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” Romans 1:26-27 (NASB)  That was written by Paul nearly two thousand years ago, so should we be surprised that the behavior continues today?  No!

As I said, sin is sin and we’ve all sinned and fall short of God’s holy standard.  This is simply one more example.  The rub is when groups attempt to normalize the behavior.

Take the absurd to illustrate the point.  If a group begins harping on a position advocating sex between six year olds we would be up in arms and of course this is wrong.  But what if this group turned the argument into one of intolerance and said leave the six year olds alone, let them enjoy free love like everyone else and if you don’t you’re intolerant and bigoted just like Hitler and the KKK.  In fact this group wants to legally recognize free love between six year olds and bar any interruption parental or otherwise. 

That’s what is going on here folks.  God’s Word clearly points to His design for marriage, specifically  heterosexual unions in the context of marriage between one man and one woman.  Outside of that there is a sin problem.  While individuals will always fall into sin of every sort, when institutional advocacy for making sin the lawful norm takes place, Christians must speak out.  AMEN!