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Series B – Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, October 4, 2015 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:28	the holy Gospel According to Saint Mark chapter 10 verses 2 through 16.
0:35	some Pharisees came and tested Jesus by asking is it lawful for a man to divorce
0:41	his wife what did Moses command you he replied they said Moses permitted a man to write
0:47	a certificate of divorce and send her away it was because your hearts were hard
0:53	that Moses wrote you this law Jesus replied but at the beginning of creation God
0:59	made them male and female for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be United to his wife and the
1:05	two will become one flesh so they’re no longer two but one therefore what God
1:11	has joined together let man not separate when they were in the house again his
1:17	disciples asked him about this he answered anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits
1:24	adultery against her and if she divorces her husband and marries another man she
1:29	commits adultery people were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them but the
1:35	disciples rebuked them when Jesus saw this he was indignant he said to them
1:40	let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these I tell you
1:48	the truth anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child
1:53	will never enter it and he took the children in his arms and put his hands on them and he blessed them
2:00	in the name of Jesus all right our text this morning is kind
2:06	of chopped into three pieces we’ll kind of address it in three different parts we’re going to talk about this this
2:13	testing of Jesus in order to kind of trip him up and his answer regarding the creation we’ll take a look at what he
2:19	says then about divorce and then lastly we’ll take a look at children real quick so that’s what we’re going to be doing
2:25	in our text today I recommend you have your Bibles with you you will need them for our sermon today
2:31	Mark chapter 10 verse 2 Pharisees came up in order to test him here’s what’s
2:36	going on even in Jesus day you have two different camps kind of split on the
2:41	divorce issue you have some who are really strict under no circumstances and then on the
2:49	other side you have those who say well you know it’s okay
2:55	and so you have the lacks group and you have the strict group and so the idea behind the testing is something along
3:01	the lines of this we’re going to ask Jesus one of those questions it’ll be a catch-22 and no
3:07	matter how he answers it he’s going to end up upsetting like half the people
3:12	finally we can get this Jesus guide to look stupid in the polls right because his popularity continues to hover way
3:19	above what they want it so they’re trying to figure out how to get him to you know drop down in popularity it would be something along the lines of
3:26	today although the the analogy is kind of a mess but if a popular Pastor or
3:32	preacher we’re on one of those major talk shows on one of the news channels
3:37	and the interviewer asked them what does God say about homosexual marriage
3:43	well there’s the gotcha question because as soon as he says what God’s word says half the people in the audience are
3:50	going to tune this guy out so this is the idea so Jesus he answers their here’s a
3:56	question is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife is the question it’s pretty straightforward question by
4:01	the way so he answers them with a question what did Moses command you well they said well Moses allowed a man to
4:08	write a certificate of divorce and send her away little historical note here it
4:15	was the men who wrote the certificates of divorce not the women and so Jesus
4:20	then gives him a little bit of information they’ve correctly cited what Moses says in the Torah so Jesus is
4:27	going to give him information they don’t have and let’s talk about why that commandment’s there do you think for a
4:32	second that the thing in the Torah in the old Covenant that allows for a man
4:38	to write a certificate of divorce and send his wife away was what God intended from the beginning
4:43	do you think that’s really part of God’s holy law the answer is no Jesus said Moses
4:52	allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away because of your Hardness of Heart
4:58	that’s why he wrote this commandment and then Jesus gives us this information but from the beginning of creation God
5:06	made them male and female so Jesus goes all the way back to before the fall
5:13	before the fall and sights for us Genesis chapter 2 talking about what was
5:19	really going on there he says this but from the beginning of creation God made the male and female therefore a man
5:25	shall leave his father and mother and here’s kind of an interesting word
5:31	proscaleas the Thai yeah I think I mispronounced that hold fast be United be joined to
5:39	interesting thing about this word here is it’s passive
5:46	you’re thinking what does that mean well here’s the idea therefore man shall
5:52	leave his father and mother and be made to or caused to be joined or United with
5:59	his wife in other words the man ain’t doing the joining
6:05	he’s being joined you think what is going on there well we
6:10	continue so a man will be joined to United to his wife and the two shall
6:17	become one flesh so that they are no longer two but they are one and verse 9 gives us the reason why
6:23	that’s passive what therefore God has joined together let not man separate
6:33	God is the one who’s doing the joining not me not you not the husband not the
6:41	wife God’s doing the joining God is the one causing the two to become one flesh
6:49	in other words we’ve got to do a little bit of examining here just by what Jesus has told us we know a lot now about what
6:57	God has intended all along regarding marriage marriage number one is the union of a male and a female
7:05	and God takes that couple and joins them together
7:11	that’s what we call holy matrimony and the reason it’s holy is because God’s
7:18	doing the joining now what the state of Minnesota or the United States says is that two dudes can
7:26	get together and the state will issue them a marriage certificate saying that according to the state of
7:33	Minnesota it backed up with the Supreme Court of the United States of America these two
7:38	dudes are married that’s what we call Unholy matrimony
7:45	and God does not join the two of them together
7:51	God unites he joins a male and a female in holy matrimony
7:58	this is not their doing it’s his and if you know your Greek grammar there’s no
8:03	way around it now keep that in mind now I want to point something out here and we’re going
8:10	to go back into our Old Testament text and I’m going to read for you from my
8:17	translation of Genesis chapter 2. you can follow along we’re going to be in Genesis chapter 2 starting in verse 4.
8:24	I want you to see how God set everything up it’s absolutely beautiful and this is
8:30	before the fall Genesis 2 4. these are the accounts of
8:36	the Heaven and the Earth in their Creation in the day the Lord God made
8:42	the Earth in the heavens verse 5. before there was a bush of the
8:47	field on the earth and before there was grass of the field sprang up before the Lord God no rain had had caused to fall
8:54	on the earth and no man to work the ground and a Mist was going up from the earth
8:59	and was watering all the face of the ground and the Lord God formed the man of the dust from the ground and breathed
9:06	in his nose Breath of Life and the Man became a living Soul note here
9:12	everything else that God had created up to this point was created by Him speaking it into existence
9:18	he said let there be light and there was light he said let there be a sun moon stars
9:24	and there were he said let there be Beasts of the field grass in the field Let There Be seed
9:30	bearing plants and fruit-bearing trees let there be little creepy crawly things on the ground and you know what happened
9:37	when God said that there should be those things they came into existence but man was not created this way
9:44	God did something very special with our creation rather than speak us into
9:49	existence he took the dust and the clay and the mud and he formed the man
9:56	and then he breathed into his nose the Breath of Life
10:03	spirit and he became a life a living soul
10:10	very important stuff absolutely beautiful we have a unique creation
10:16	and then it says this the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the East and put there the man that he had formed
10:23	and the Lord God caused to grow from the ground every tree desirous in appearance and good for food and the tree of life
10:29	was in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil and a river flowed out of Eden to water
10:36	the garden and there it divided and became four Headwaters a little side note here the church fathers love the
10:43	fact that we have four rivers here at the at the beginning of creation and you know what they see the parallel to in
10:49	the New Testament they see that the four headwaters of the Gospel Matthew Mark
10:54	Luke and John fascinating how they connect that but here’s what it says the name of the
11:01	first is pishan it flowed around all the land of havilah in which there is gold the gold of that land is good and
11:07	there’s bedellium and Onyx Stone and the name of the second river is the gihon it
11:13	flowed all around the land of cush and the name of the third is chedacau which
11:19	is translated Tigris and it flows east of Assyria and the fourth river is farat
11:25	and the Lord God took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden to work it and to keep it
11:32	see even before the fall there was work to do but it was not toilsson we were made for
11:39	such a thing as this and the Lord God commanded the man saying from all the trees of the garden
11:45	you may surely eat but from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil you may not eat from it because on the day that
11:51	you eat from it you will surely die
11:57	and the Lord God said and is not good that the man should be alone
12:03	I will make for him a helper as his and
12:08	this is an interesting Hebrew phrase as his corresponding counterpart
12:15	you can almost think mirror opposite think Lego pieces if you would how they
12:21	connect together that’s the idea I will make for him a helper as his opposite as
12:26	his counterpart or his corresponding creation
12:31	which by the way rules out same-sex marriage just do the Lego work the pieces fit
12:39	together the answer is no they don’t God didn’t make those pieces to fit together
12:45	so the Lord God formed from the ground every beast of the field every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man
12:52	to see what he would call them and all that the man called the living creatures it was its name notice part of his task
12:59	part of his office is the neighbor of the animals God creates all of these things and we get their descriptions but
13:07	then God causes them all to come before Adam and he calls out their name that’s a zebra that’s a giraffe I don’t know
13:14	what that is all right duck Dill build platypus what were you thinking God all
13:20	right all right strange one indeed but he named them all but the last one he names watch this
13:27	it’s in our text so the man called the name so all the livestock all the birds of the heavens
13:32	all the beasts of the field but for Adam there was not found a helper as his there it is again counterpart his
13:39	opposite something corresponding to him so the Lord God caused to fall a deep
13:46	sleep upon the man and as he slept he took one from his ribs closed it with flesh in
13:55	its Stead and then the Lord God the Greek the Hebrew hears brilliant built it says
14:02	built the Lord God built from the rib that was taken from the man
14:07	a woman and brought her to the man you can almost think that God here is
14:13	playing Matchmaker all along he’s been planning a wedding getting ready for it
14:19	and now he’s going to finally meet his perfect counterpart his opposite
14:27	his bride right here’s what Adam says you ever see those
14:34	television programs where they do something kind for somebody like they send them on vacation while they’re gone they completely renovate their house and
14:40	they come back and they go oh right this is the reveal portion of the of that
14:45	reality TV show right so here’s the reveal the Lord God brings eve and he’s
14:53	this at last is bone of my bones Flesh of My Flesh
15:00	and watch this he names her
15:06	he names her this one shall be called Isha that’s what woman is in Hebrew
15:13	because from man this was taken
15:19	the Hebrew word for man is Ish Hebrew word for woman is Isha
15:25	there’s a professor at the Fort Wayne Seminary who says the difference then between them is
15:32	ah I think he has a good point right
15:40	and it’s beautiful it’s absolutely glorious and then here’s the Hebrew
15:46	therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and be clung to United to with his woman
15:56	that’s what it says his woman and they will become one flesh
16:02	and they were both naked the man and his woman and they were not ashamed
16:09	absolutely not ashamed can you imagine a relationship
16:15	with your spouse where there was nothing to hide no secrets
16:20	everything’s just there what a wonderful relationship what a
16:25	beautiful thing God has created and all of this is before the fall we all know
16:31	what happens in chapter three do we not chapter 3 is the fall of Man the
16:36	Temptation Of The Serpent and the plunging of us all of us into a curse
16:42	now ironically ironically marriage itself
16:48	points us to Jesus marriage as we know it is type and
16:55	Shadow and the reality is the thing that we consider a mystery right now
17:01	and that is is that Jesus has a bride and that bride is this church and I want
17:08	you to think of it this way remember it says this about the creation of Eve that the Lord God caused Adam to fall into a
17:15	deep sleep and then took from his side one of his ribs
17:20	how is the church the bride of Christ created
17:25	well the Lord God caused Jesus to fall into a deep sleep the sleep of death
17:32	and there he was on the cross and the Roman soldier took the Lance and
17:39	pierced his side and out came water and blood and it is through the water and the
17:46	blood that we the bride of Christ was formed
17:52	was created is being built and see that’s the great and profound
17:58	mystery and so marriage points us to that in
18:03	fact Paul picks up on this theme in the book of Ephesians chapter 5 it says this
18:10	in verses 25-27 the Commandment is hot as to how
18:15	Christian husbands are to treat their wives husbands love your wives as Christ
18:22	love the church and gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her having
18:29	cleansed her by the washing of water with the word so that he might present the church to
18:34	himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that he that
18:41	she might be holy and without blemish what a great husband the church has
18:48	completely selfless in fact that’s what we sung about in our sermon hymn
18:55	did you notice how many times the hymn said for us baptized for us he bore for
19:03	us he daily Works he wrought for us the Temptation sharp he knew for us for us
19:12	for us literally the best husband on Earth
19:18	with literally the most crazy bride ever right yeah
19:24	and all of this points to Jesus and points to him and so
19:30	let us then understand what marriage truly is the church has become lacks on
19:37	these things and the laxity that we’ve seen now in in recent days didn’t begin
19:43	yesterday it began many many many years ago when the church itself began winking and
19:51	nodding at divorce and yet Jesus says this this is part two
19:58	of our sermon the disciples asked Jesus about this matter and he
20:04	said to them whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her
20:13	how many marriages have we seen blown apart in our days
20:20	scripture gives us two and I mean this two valid reasons for divorce your
20:26	spouse has cheated on you or your unbelieving spouse has abandoned you
20:31	that’s found in the book of First Corinthians chapter seven by the way nowhere in scripture are we told well
20:38	she doesn’t make me happy anymore so I’m going to send her away
20:45	how many divorces have ended for stupid unbiblical selfish reasons
20:53	and you know what the church has done oh I understand God would never want you to be in a
21:00	Loveless marriage God would never want you to experience this that or that he wants you to be happy so by all means
21:06	leave him leave her go find somebody else who will make you feel happy
21:13	all of that happened long ago has been going on for decades
21:18	the sexual Revolution just kind of ramped that and took it to another level and now we live in the days of no-fault
21:25	divorce no fault well if there’s the state doesn’t see
21:31	any fault in it do I need to seek God’s forgiveness yeah you do
21:37	you do because remember Jesus’s solemn words what God has joined together let not man
21:45	separate it is absolutely Wicked sinful evil
21:52	selfish satanic to take what God has joined together and
21:58	tear it apart over something as trite as well I’m no longer happy with her
22:04	she just doesn’t do it for me get over yourself
22:10	problems you as Christians we husbands are to love
22:15	our Brides the way Christ has loved the church and it’s sinful
22:21	to do otherwise and it’s sinful to condone and give Credence to people who
22:27	are contradicting what God has joined together we’ve all seen the people from that
22:34	crazy Church you know that Baptist Church Westboro Baptist God hates this God hates that
22:41	did you know there is a passage in the Old Testament look it up that says God hates divorce
22:49	hates it and yet we as Christians have become
22:54	very lacks on this and you know one of the arguments that was used against Christians who were standing against
22:59	same-sex marriage 50 of you Christians are getting
23:05	divorced you obviously don’t think that marriage is really all that sacred do you
23:14	based on those stats clearly we don’t because the stats between the world and
23:21	Christians when it comes to divorce rates identical no statistical difference
23:30	do we really believe that God has joined us together
23:36	important thing to think about now for the gospel
23:43	we have identified what it is the institution of marriages as God has created it we’ve seen how it’s connected
23:49	to Christ and yet we also know that each and every
23:54	one of us are guilty of all kinds of terrible sins even sins
23:59	against our spouse and sins against Christ that relate to our marriage
24:05	so let me end this way verse 13 chapter 10. they were bringing
24:11	children Greek word here is paidion a pideon is a infant to about the age of
24:20	six and a half or seven these are small children tiny little ones these are the smallest
24:27	of the small once you hit about seven or eight you’re no longer a pi Dion you’re something else but so infants to about
24:34	six and a half seven so they broke bringing children to him
24:39	that they might touch them and the disciples rebuked them
24:44	these poor disciples past few weeks they have been able to get anything right I mean they couldn’t cast out the demon
24:50	they you know they get all these guys are just messing up all over the place and here they screwed up again you know
24:57	so here we’ve got somebody with their baby coming to Jesus because they want Jesus to bless their baby and they say
25:05	kid can’t make a decision for Jesus bring him back when he’s older right and Jesus is all
25:13	okay he was indignant it says he’s very upset and he said let the little children come
25:21	to me don’t hinder them for too such belongs the kingdom of God and you go
25:30	what the kingdom of God belongs to infants
25:37	really the answer is yes because you know what infants are
25:44	incapable of doing any good works for themselves and I do not believe that filling a
25:52	diaper is a good work I just want to be on the record with that okay that is not a good work it’s
25:58	awful so I used to have a technique for dealing with that but that’s for another time maybe my therapist
26:06	they can only be given to and oh yes infants Trust
26:12	they Trust they know the voice of their mom they can no recognize the voice of their
26:19	dad and they Trust and they can be given to and so understand this infant Faith According
26:26	To Jesus is the gold standard of the kingdom of God
26:32	not philosophy not super highfalutin technique
26:38	technical nuanced theology although that’s a good thing if it’s done biblically
26:44	the gold standard and the kingdom of God is infant faith
26:50	plain and simple truly I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child
26:57	shall not enter it how do the children here at kung’s finger enter the kingdom
27:03	of God right there what good work do they do when they
27:10	enter the kingdom of God but what do they receive there
27:18	the washing of water and the word remember from the Pearson side of Christ
27:23	flows water and blood and what you don’t see in the baptismal font because all we
27:28	see is the water is that mixed in there is the blood of Christ and there
27:34	Christ created new children in the kingdom of
27:40	God washed away their sins buried with them with them in his in his death in
27:46	his resurrection circumcise their hearts all of these amazing promises with that
27:51	and all the infant did was receive and in that they also received the
27:59	ability to believe to trust in Jesus all given as a gift it’s not based upon your
28:05	mental ability it’s not based upon how old you are it’s based upon God giving
28:10	it to you now I may have told the story and if it’s a repeat I apologize but I think
28:16	it’s poignant enough to at least bring back the greatest Theologian I’ve ever met
28:21	and I mean this sincerely is a man with Down Syndrome I don’t even know his name
28:28	but he had childlike Faith let me explain years ago
28:34	I was teaching at a Baptist Church and I was attending the night services at a Lutheran Church in Capistrano Beach
28:40	California the evening service only had well less people here less than we have here on a Sunday evening service was not
28:47	very well attended but the pastor of the congregation there had taken it upon himself
28:52	to become the pastor of the residents of a home
28:58	dedicated to adult people who had Down syndrome they need
29:04	assistance so it’s assisted living facility all for people with Down syndrome and he went and ministered to
29:10	them and they became he became their pastor and so once a month he would bring the whole home you know to a
29:17	church service oftentimes it was in the morning but this particular evening it was to the night service so we had two
29:23	pews full of people who had Down syndrome beautiful beautiful kids and they’re all
29:30	in their early 20s you know something like that and it comes time for communion and
29:36	in the evening service we would all gather around it was we could all and so when people come up and we gather around
29:42	all the way around the Altar and then Pastor holder would come by with a body in the blood and that night because we
29:49	had guests we were too deep and standing right in front of me was one of these young men with Down Syndrome
29:56	and Pastor hodle comes up and he says take eat
30:02	this is the True Body of Christ broken for you
30:09	and this kid with beautiful childlike faith says for
30:17	me for me thank you thank you
30:22	I lost it absolutely lost it
30:27	what a beautiful Faith this man had so simple
30:34	so childlike so thankful for the gift that he was receiving and he believed it to be what
30:40	God’s word says it to be and he received it with true heartfelt thanks
30:48	and I was shamed I wish my faith were that simple
30:54	I wish my faith were that childlike for me
31:01	thank you greatest Theologian I’ve ever met
31:07	greatest Christian I’ve ever met childlike faith is the gold standard in
31:15	the kingdom of God today when you come here
31:22	I want you to believe the words that you hear broken and shed for you
31:30	and that’s for you for the Forgiveness of your sins no truer words can be spoken
31:38	trust and believe that you are in Christ that he has bled and died for you
31:45	even for the sins that you have committed against God and against your spouse
31:50	where you have not honored holy matrimony and capted holy even though
31:57	since Christ has bled and died for so trust that in the waters of your
32:03	baptism your sins were washed away trust when you hear the words today broken and shed for you for the
32:10	Forgiveness of your sins Christ your
32:16	your groom you his bride he is making you holy and as Paul says
32:25	so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or
32:33	wrinkle or any such thing so that she might be holy
32:38	and without blemish what a great husband we have in Jesus in the name of Jesus
32:46	Amen

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