Hey, just a heads-up here… I got this week’s discussion questions from an online resource, and the first question was about celebrity marriage and divorce. Do you even follow celebrity marriage and divorces? I don’t.. But it seems there has been a lot of news around that lately, for some reason. Apparently, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez just got a divorce? I didn’t even know they were married.
For the past two decades, 50% of all marriages in the United States have ended in divorce. What does that tell us about our culture’s view of divorce and marriage?
Are most Christians’ attitudes about divorce different from that of the surrounding culture? Why or why not?
Since the United States adopted No Fault Divorce in 1960, divorces have more than tripled. A century ago, only 7% of marriages ended in divorce. Our attitude toward divorce has really changed.
Mark 10:1–5 (ESV)
And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.
And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment.
What was the Pharisees’ motive in questioning Jesus about divorce?
Here is their “Problem passage” that we talked about on Sunday:
Deuteronomy 24:1–4 (ESV)
When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, and if she goes and becomes another man’s wife, and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.
How was Moses’ allowance for divorce being misused by the people of Jesus’ day?
What reason does Jesus cite for the current practice of giving a woman a “certificate of divorce”?
Was divorce really allowed? What does Jesus’ comment reveal about this commandment?
Mark 10:6–12 (ESV)
But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
What portion of the Old Testament does Jesus cite in His response to the Pharisee’s question? What does that tell us about Jesus’ view of marriage? How does Jesus’ attitude about divorce differ from our culture’s?
Marriage, in the eyes of God, is not a contract that people can break. It is a covenant that only He can break. What is the difference between a covenant and a contract?
What does it mean to “become one flesh”? Why is it important that we view marriage as a one flesh union? How might this view strengthen marriage? How might seeing marriage this way help us demonstrate the gospel?
How does marriage reflect the gospel, and what light does this shine on divorce?
Where else in Scripture do we see marriage presented as an example of Christ and the church? (Hint: we looked at one of them in Ephesians on Sunday.)
How do you become someone who is easy to be married to? How could you pursue Christ in such a way that it is evident in all areas of your life, including your marriage?
If you are married, how could you and your spouse invest in someone else’s marriage?
If you have been through a divorce, how have you seen God redeem that pain of that experience for His glory?
What does it look like to trust Jesus with your marriage? If you are unmarried and wish to be, how can you trust God’s plan for your life? If you are married, how can you lean on Jesus to sustain your marriage?
I am really excited to celebrate doing life together this coming Sunday. We are really going to have some fun being in our groups together and encouraging others to join in. I will see you there!