WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:01.439 Help us with this. 00:00:01.600 --> 00:00:10.400 The first is the flow to the text and the fact that in verses 17 through 20, which we looked at a few weeks ago, Jesus speaks about our inability to be perfect. 00:00:10.640 --> 00:00:10.960 Right? 00:00:11.119 --> 00:00:19.359 He speaks about our inability to be perfect, and then he starts to talk about these different behaviors, and he starts to talk about these different conditions and issues going on in our hearts. 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:20.879 He's challenging. 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:26.719 He's challenging the behavioral mindset of the day that refuse to move into the heart. 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:31.280 And what he's saying, he's saying you can't complete the law. 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:31.839 Right? 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:32.719 So we talked about that. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:34.399 The law is all the shoulds. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:42.560 All the shoulds in scripture, you should be like this, and you should be like that, and you should be like this, and this is what you should be like, and you should be like this, and you should be like that, and all the shoulds, and that's the law. 00:00:42.719 --> 00:00:43.679 That's law. 00:00:43.840 --> 00:00:48.799 And Jesus comes into law and says, Hey, by the way, you'll never be able to complete all that. 00:00:49.119 --> 00:00:50.079 I completed that. 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:55.840 God Himself takes that upon Himself because we cannot, because we're just not perfect. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:04.319 That kind, loving, sacrificial, patient, pure person who, you know, you should always eat kale and hummus and watch independent movies. 00:01:04.480 --> 00:01:17.439 You already sold your first company, by the way, and you're perfectly fit and you're a force for cultural good, all those shoulds in Scripture and the shoulds in life, all of that, you'll never be able to meet all of it. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:22.239 We always fall short of all the shoulds in life. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:28.640 The shoulds in life, this is what Jesus is saying, the shoulds in life don't have to be the governor of your lives. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:38.079 And that is such good news because all of us, all of us, all of us, fall short of that, and there is a way of grace. 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:43.519 So there's a flow to the text, good news for us, and there's a context to the text. 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:52.319 So the rabbis, rabbis in the Old Testament, and they're reading the Torah, the rabbis believe what constituted divorce was a break in the vows. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:55.760 The vows were fidelity, provision, and love. 00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.200 And so a break in the vows could constitute divorce. 00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:04.719 Now, near Jesus' time, two rabbis surfaced, Rabbi Hilil and Rabbi Shema. 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:07.599 Now, these two guys believed two very different things. 00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:09.280 They taught two very different things. 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:14.800 And these were thoughts that would be going on in the minds and the hearts of the people who would hear Jesus' words. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:20.319 And so Shema came along and he was more conservative with that original understanding of the Torah. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:23.360 And he said, the only thing that could constitute divorce is sexual immorality. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:25.599 He said, That's the only thing that can constitute a divorce. 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:28.639 But Halil comes along and he says, no, no, no, no, no, no. 00:02:28.879 --> 00:02:32.800 Like you can divorce your wife for any reason. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:37.120 You can divorce her if she burns your meal. 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:40.000 It's crazy, right? 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:44.000 But at the time, women were treated as property. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:48.800 And so sadly, this becomes a quite popular view. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.360 And the women are just treated like property. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:58.240 So Jesus bringing structure to this issue is Jesus bringing protection to women. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.439 He's siding with Shema. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:06.719 These words would have meant everything to a woman. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:08.080 Everything. 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:17.439 A certificate of divorce for a woman meant that she could move on with her life without that husband, that ex-husband, coming back to reclaim her. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:23.039 Not to mention that at that time, if a man divorced a woman, it was almost a death sentence. 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:26.159 She was dependent upon him for security and for income. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:33.039 It's not like today where, you know, the woman can move on and keep her job, she buys another house, she gets another job, she goes to work at CNN and everything. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:38.400 This was about poverty and hunger and starvation and prostitution. 00:03:39.759 --> 00:03:43.360 So these words meant everything to a woman. 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:46.639 They would have soaked this up. 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:53.360 So I know we hear it very differently than they would have heard it 2,000 years ago. 00:03:53.520 --> 00:03:55.439 Matthew 5, 31 through 32. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:00.240 It was also said, Jesus teaching, and here comes these antitheses. 00:04:00.479 --> 00:04:04.400 Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:10.560 But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. 00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:13.039 See, he's coming in on the side of the rabbi Shema. 00:04:13.439 --> 00:04:16.560 And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:17.600 We'll dig into that. 00:04:17.839 --> 00:04:22.319 So he speaks severe words in defense of women. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:27.519 Now, I know some of you are divorced, some of you caused divorce. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:30.800 Some of you are maybe wounded by divorce. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:33.360 Some of you may be going through a divorce. 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:35.439 Some of you hate divorce. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:38.560 Some of you were rescued by divorce. 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:45.279 No matter what, what we all know, what we all know is divorce is hard on everyone. 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:46.560 It's difficult. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:49.040 I've walked through divorce with some of you. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:51.759 I've walked through remarriage with some of you. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:59.519 I've walked through separation and divorce with people where I never could figure out what was going on inside that marriage. 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:02.079 None of it's easy. 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:02.800 Right? 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:15.920 Like no matter how easy it looks on the front of People magazine when Gwyneth and Chris Martin separate and divorce, there's always, always hurting hearts and difficulties and complexities on the backside of divorce. 00:05:16.079 --> 00:05:17.040 We know that. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:26.720 And I also know that we'd rather just watch Jimmy Fallon watch a silly game, you know, playing a silly game with Jessica Alba or eating our Talenty, but we have to. 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:29.360 We have to still talk about difficult issues, right? 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:36.560 Like it'd be fun just to come in and always talk about fluffy stuff and rainbows and lollipops, but we have to talk about difficult issues. 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:38.160 And so this is a difficult issue. 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:47.600 Now, back when Gwyneth and Chris divorced in 2014, if we're keeping up with that, uh all the news outlets, outlets, they they freaked out with all these statistics, right? 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:52.160 I mean, we always hear like, oh, the divorce rate is 50% and climbing. 00:05:52.319 --> 00:05:54.480 Everybody's freaking out, freaking out, freaking out. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:06:03.279 Well, it was interesting, a New York Times article came out at the same time in 2014, and it said the divorce surge is over, but the myth lives on. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:06.240 And this was based on some research coming out of the University of Michigan. 00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:17.839 And what this was saying is that the reality was that the divorce rate was growing in the 70s and 80s, and then since then it has actually been in decline for the past 20 years. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:21.920 So here's a pretty long quote, but you're smart folks, you can hang with me. 00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:29.759 Ultimately, a long view is likely to show that the rapid rise in divorce during the 1970s and early 1980s was an anomaly. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:35.120 It occurred at the same time as a new feminist movement, which caused social and economic upheaval. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:39.439 Today, society has adapted and the divorce rate has declined again. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:49.600 In the 1950s and 1960s, marriage was about a breadwinner husband and a homemaker wife who both needed the other's contributions to the household, but didn't necessarily spend much time together. 00:06:49.839 --> 00:06:52.160 In the 1970s, all that changed. 00:06:52.319 --> 00:06:59.600 Women entered the workforce, many of their chores in the home became automated, and they gained reproductive rights, as the economists Betsy Stevenson and Mr. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:03.199 Wolfers have argued in their academic work from the University of Michigan. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:11.360 As a result, marriage has evolved to its modern day form based on love and shared passions and often two incomes and shared housekeeping duties. 00:07:11.519 --> 00:07:15.360 The people who married soon before the feminist movement were caught in the upheaval. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:22.639 They had married someone who was a good match for the post-war culture, but the wrong partner after times changed. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:29.199 Modern marriage is more stable because people are again marrying people suitable to the world in which we live. 00:07:29.439 --> 00:07:31.680 So according to this research, it's very interesting. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:42.399 What's interesting is that at first women's ability to work outside the home and generate income and they're not stuck in the home all the time, that this freedom increased divorce rates. 00:07:42.560 --> 00:07:45.360 And then there is this adapting that occurred. 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:48.959 And really it was the reforming of how we do marriage. 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:50.720 That the roles are shared. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:51.759 We have shared roles. 00:07:51.839 --> 00:07:53.600 I'm just assuming, I'm making a big guess here. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:59.199 I'm not the only one doing laundry and bathing kids and uh doing a lot of laundry, by the way. 00:07:59.279 --> 00:08:01.120 Just it's a bed and breakfast going on at my house. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:01.759 That's what it is. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.319 They don't pay rents, what's going on? 00:08:04.639 --> 00:08:04.959 Right? 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:07.120 So the shared roles change. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:09.360 There's more freedom for women. 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:13.199 They don't feel like they've got to go, I gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:15.839 And so marriage becomes more stable. 00:08:16.399 --> 00:08:25.439 So the text itself, because I think the text itself that Jesus talks about, I want to get technical, I want to dig into it for just a moment because he says a few things here. 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:26.240 It's quite difficult. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:28.480 I mean, really kind of abrasive to tell you the truth. 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:35.200 So what here's what it says it says the woman in the text, the woman, is forced to commit adultery if she remarries. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:36.480 Now hang with me, maybe remarried. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:39.200 You go, ah, I've been reading that forever, I don't know what to do with it. 00:08:39.440 --> 00:08:46.639 All right, so she's forced to commit adultery, but the Greek heirist tense reveals her as a victim. 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:53.200 All right, so this is fascinating because what it means is that the one who's committing adultery is seen as the victim. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:55.440 All right, that's really, really interesting. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:01.759 Because usually the one who is doing the act that is wrong is not understood as a victim. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:08.000 And so what we see here is we see immorality and compassion actually finding each other. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:11.919 And then it says anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:12.799 So what does that mean? 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:21.440 Okay, so if a divorce takes place, it's not in alignment with rightful cause for divorce, which in the New Testament is sexual morality and desertion. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:24.399 And desertion is not just Cindy Joe ran off to Vegas. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:27.919 I mean, you can be in the house and have deserted your spouse. 00:09:28.159 --> 00:09:32.000 You can be in the house and deserted your vows to your spouse. 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:40.080 So if divorce is not rightful according to the New Testament, the new union, catch this, it'll kind of blow your brain, it's hard to grasp. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:52.399 The new union, while it's not in agreement with a perfect moral code in its beginning, it's still a new union that in the grace of God must grow into health and beauty. 00:09:52.639 --> 00:09:57.600 See, this is where grace and morality create illogical reasoning. 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:06.559 And it is probably why so many of us have had such a hard time thinking about divorce, and not even want to think about divorce, and not even want to deal with a passage on remarriage. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:10.639 Because this is two different paradigms colliding for us. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.080 And I think this is why Jesus brings it up. 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:20.399 Because what he's doing, he's talking about divorce, but he's also talking about something much deeper. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:29.360 And that is that if you give your hearts to moralism, if you give your hearts to that, you'll have no grace for other people. 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:31.759 And eventually you'll have no grace for yourself. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:33.120 Alright, so a few points. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:42.960 Point number one there are clear scriptural guidelines for divorce, even while we always hope for reconciliation. 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:48.080 There are clear scriptural guidelines for divorce, even while we always hope for reconciliation. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:54.240 When Sam and I sat down on Monday and we started, you know, all right, let's look at the next text, and you're like, oh, oh, it's divorce. 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:55.759 And I had family in town. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:10:57.360 Oh, what am I gonna do? 00:10:57.600 --> 00:10:58.960 Let's scrap it all. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:01.759 You know, and they're like, all right, well, what song what songs can we sing? 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:02.720 What songs are on divorce? 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:03.840 There's no songs on divorce. 00:11:04.000 --> 00:11:08.159 I mean, you don't sing songs, let's go sing some songs on divorce together as a community. 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:09.360 I mean, no, nobody wants to do that. 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:09.840 That's horrible. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:10.879 It's not horrible ideas. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:14.080 And so, you know, it's like, let's just sing songs about hope. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:17.200 I mean, let's just sing songs about hope. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:19.840 That's the best thing to do. 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:26.480 But there is these screw these clear scriptural guidelines for divorce. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:32.240 A range of New Testament passages permit divorce based on sexual morality and desertion. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:35.679 And by the way, all forms of abuse are under desertion. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:38.240 All forms of abuse. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:48.080 Point number two, divorce is hard on everyone, but divorce shouldn't be filled with shame for anyone. 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:54.960 Divorce is hard on everyone, but divorce should not be filled with shame for anyone. 00:11:55.120 --> 00:12:03.600 This is not to condone any given divorce, but it is refusing to sit in condemnation over any individual going through any divorce. 00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:08.320 We read Galatians 3, 23 through 26 a few weeks ago. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:09.360 I'm going to read it again. 00:12:09.519 --> 00:12:15.039 And you think about when we hear this word law, it's the idea of all the shoulds of who we should be. 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:21.919 Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 00:12:22.080 --> 00:12:27.200 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:30.639 So we're not justified by how good we are, perfect we are, moral we are. 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:42.159 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons, we can say daughters of God through faith. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:45.759 It's a different way, it's a different path. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:52.879 Point number three: recognizing our imperfection is the beginning of our rescue. 00:12:54.000 --> 00:13:07.679 So just in case you're sitting in judgment over other people because you've had a great marriage and you think divorce is horrible in all situations, and you think you're really great, and you think you're fantastic, and you got your life together. 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:10.080 Jesus takes it further. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.279 Because he's using divorce to get us to come into our hearts. 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:15.759 And so he takes it even further. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:18.399 Because commitments aren't just about marriage, right? 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:21.039 I mean, it's about a yes be yes and a no be no. 00:13:21.600 --> 00:13:23.279 And so he says this in verse 33. 00:13:23.440 --> 00:13:29.120 Again, you have heard it also said of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:30.799 So if you say you're gonna do it, you do it. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:39.919 But I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is the footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:43.919 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 00:13:44.080 --> 00:13:47.120 Let what you say be simply yes or no. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:50.720 Anything more than this comes from evil. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:55.600 Jesus isn't condemning you, he's just showing you reality. 00:13:57.519 --> 00:14:00.080 And you go, oh, you think you're moral hot stuff. 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:00.559 You're not. 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:01.440 Like we're just not. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:05.759 Whether you've got you've been divorced, you haven't been divorced, we've all broken oaths. 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:06.559 Right? 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.080 Your yes isn't always yes. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:09.440 My yes has not always been yes. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.240 I've wiggled out of things that I had committed to. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:21.120 You stretch the truth so we can stop sitting in judgment over other people, and we can stop using our own merit to justify ourselves. 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:27.840 Jesus is drawing a clear distinction of our inability to ever have all the puzzle pieces together. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.799 Remember when we talked about this a few weeks ago? 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:42.000 That you know that a life by law is this feeling like you have this puzzle, and if you can just get the puzzle all put together, everything will be okay. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:46.559 And so you're just searching, you're constantly searching for that puzzle piece, that one last puzzle piece. 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:48.879 You think, I'll just find one last puzzle piece. 00:14:49.039 --> 00:14:57.200 And maybe you do it within the religious world, maybe you do it within the secular world, but you're searching and you're searching, you're looking, you're looking, and you find a piece, you find it, this is gonna be it, this is gonna be it, and you put it in your puzzles. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:00.000 You put in your puzzle, you realize there's like two other pieces that aren't there. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:09.440 And so you go looking for the other two pieces, and you go looking, you're searching, you're searching, you're searching, and you put those in, and then you go, oh no, there's another piece missing, or maybe there's three missing, or four missing, and you go, and it's just over and over. 00:15:09.679 --> 00:15:11.039 This, have you ever felt like that? 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:13.679 By the way, have you ever felt like life is like that? 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:17.519 Well, that's life as captivity under the law. 00:15:17.679 --> 00:15:22.000 That's captivity under the shoulds of life, a merit system. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:26.320 A merit system that lures you and then it beats you. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:28.960 And I know this because I've tried to do it. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:37.279 I still try to do it, justify my life and my value, even my position before God by what I do or how good I think I am, how good you think I am. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:40.720 But it's not the way of faith and grace and love. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.919 I don't know your present circumstances. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:50.159 I hope you don't ever have to go through divorce. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:52.399 I don't know your past. 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:56.879 I don't I don't know, but some of you have been abandoned by spouses. 00:15:57.759 --> 00:16:03.039 Some of you have been cheated on, abused, beaten, belittled, ignored. 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:09.600 I know some of you have done the leaving and the cheating and the abusing and the belittling. 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:14.159 And for you also there's absolution and there's forgiveness. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:34.000 The beauty of Christ on the cross is to show us in physical form that God Himself will take on all that brokenness and all that shortcoming and that sin, and then grace toward you heal you and relieve you from any life of having to use merit and law as your justification before Him. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:41.759 And lastly, some of you, some of you have received shaming from the church because you got divorced. 00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:44.639 And maybe it was a bad sermon. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:47.600 Or maybe it was a bad small group. 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.200 It was just a bad Sunday school class. 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:55.440 It was it was whispers when you walk by, or it was some looks. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:17:02.960 And and for whatever help it is to hear clergy say, I am so sorry that happened to you. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:10.559 You did not deserve that because you, my friend, you you're a God's beloved, not by your work, but by his word for you. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:25.440 So, my brothers and sisters, may you see again your need for the grace of God, for the work of Christ from outside of yourself, complete absolution and righteousness that is free as the air you breathe. 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:34.000 So may you breathe it in, let it transform your heart and out into your relationships, your marriages, your friendships, your parenting, and into the world. 00:17:34.160 --> 00:17:35.599 Let's pray together. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:37.759 God, we thank you. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:49.279 That though we are not always faithful and committed to you, you are faithful and committed to us, and in your grace, you love us enough to give us the law, to give us the shoulds of what we should be. 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:51.279 May it be our guide. 00:17:51.680 --> 00:17:55.920 And in the same moment, would we be honest before it? 00:17:56.480 --> 00:18:01.599 That we are not perfect, and that we need a way of grace. 00:18:01.759 --> 00:18:10.480 And we thank you that you provided that for us to understand that through the life, work, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:16.240 God, may we breathe in your absolution and forgiveness. 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:18.160 God, I pray for great healing. 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:26.799 I pray for the marriages in this room that are on the brink of exploding, and I pray for reconciliation and healing. 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:32.799 I pray for those of us going through divorce, would you be a great comforter? 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:36.240 I pray for those of us that who are divorced. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:38.880 I pray you remove any shame. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:43.359 I pray for great healing in those hearts. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:48.000 And God, I pray for those of us who have remarried. 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:56.880 I pray those relationships would be beautiful and healthy and vibrant and full of truth and full of grace for your kingdom. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:05.279 God help us to trust you in greater ways as we let go of all the ways we love. 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:07.759 Love to trust in our own work. 00:19:08.000 --> 00:19:09.519 In Jesus' name, we pray. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:10.400 Amen. 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:13.920 We serve communion each week here at Redeemer. 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:18.960 If you call Redeemer your home, please feel free as you come forward to bring your tithe or offering in these baskets. 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:21.039 Feel no obligation to give. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:22.799 Feel no obligation to give. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:26.640 If you're a visitor, uh, just feel no obligation when it comes to that. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:30.559 In fact, when it comes to communion, feel no obligation to take communion. 00:19:30.720 --> 00:19:39.200 Maybe you're here, you're from a different denomination, you're from a different background, you're from a different religious background, you're from a different faith, you're from a you're from no faith, and you're here. 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:41.279 We are we're excited you're here with us. 00:19:41.359 --> 00:19:44.960 And feel no awkwardness to stay in your seat during our time of communion. 00:19:45.200 --> 00:19:52.240 In fact, the scriptures say for people not to receive communion until you come to a place of faith and trust in Christ as Savior. 00:19:52.480 --> 00:20:10.640 Now, we would love nothing more than for this morning to be a time where you find saving belief in your heart, and for our time during reflection and prayer, for you to bow your head and pray a prayer of trusting in Jesus as Savior and wanting to receive the grace of God in your life, and we would welcome you to come forward to receive communion in a meaningful way. 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:14.640 Communion is about what is done and accomplished outside of us and given to us. 00:20:14.720 --> 00:20:23.680 So we come forward to receive, taking the bread and dipping it in the wine which is available in the cup to your left, or grape juice which is available in the cup to your right. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:27.359 Bread and wine are God's symbols of his love for us. 00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:35.920 Communion reminds us that we are not acceptable to God based on our work we have done, but because of the work Jesus Christ has done for us. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:40.400 On the night he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus Christ, he took bread and we had given thanks. 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:45.519 He broke it and he gave it to his disciples, saying, This body is given for you, do this in remembrance of me. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:49.519 In the same way, he took the cup, saying, This cup is a new covenant.