Crossroad Online
Vacuuming The Pool
Hi, this is Pastor Ken, I want to welcome you to my Thoughts on a Thursday Podcast where I take some regular occurrence or personal story from my life and connect it to a scriptural truth. So here are my thoughts on this Thursday, June 29th 2023…Vacuuming The Pool
A few days ago I was up earlier than normal and having noticed the day before that the pool needing vacuuming, I decided to do it during the coolest part of the day. Though I don’t enjoy that particular task when the sun is high in the sky and quite hot, I do find it relaxing early in the morning or later in the evening. When my boys and I erected the pool some years ago, in our haste, we didn’t get the bottom of the liner stretched as tightly as we should have. As a result there are now quite a few small folded creases in the pool bottom that cannot be corrected at this point because of the weight of the water keeping them from shifting. As I said these are numerous but small so they don’t really cause any problems…Except that the dirt carried into the pool on the feet of our veritable tribe of grandchildren seems to invariably find its way into those folds and crevasses. Before long, the dirt in those folds begin to look like so many dark lines on the bottom of the pool notifying me that it needs the attention of the vacuum.
As I was standing there slowly moving the vacuum head back and forth paying close attention to the dark lines of the folds in the liner I began to think about how the task I was engaged in was analogous to the cleaning God does in our lives. I am far from omniscient, but I know the dirt exists even though much of it may be hiding from my sight. It is my pool, I look into it daily, and I am well aware of its contents. Jeremiah 23:24 talks about our inability to hide ourselves or our actions from God. In the New King James Version, it says, Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lord; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord. There is nothing that takes place in our lives that escapes the oversight of God. As the supreme, all-powerful, Creator He must necessarily be and is greater than all that He has created. God is so immense and all-encompassing that there is nothing He has fashioned that is devoid of His presence. We can look at this in either of two ways. We can choose to see Him as an intrusive authoritarian who is always watching us trying to catch us doing some wrong. Or, we can find Him to be our Heavenly Father whose love for us is so immense and intense that He desires to walk so closely to us that nothing that impacts us, escapes Him.
When I busy myself cleaning the pool I do so because I know the danger of leaving it uncared for. Much of the dirt in the pool is of an organic kind. Grass clippings, leaf particles, and things of that nature that get into the pool become waterlogged and slowly sink to the bottom. With the constant moving water propelled by the pump and children swimming those seemingly trivial pieces of debris tuck themselves into those small folds I mentioned. Once there, algae spores can attach themselves and if not vacuumed out regularly the dirt will essentially begin to grow and multiply. If I neglect to insert myself into that process by daily inspecting the pool water, soon the water will lose its clarity and become cloudy. If this were to happen and I remained uninterested, it would soon turn green and be unsuitable for swimming in.
I don’t look at myself as a busy-body because I check on the condition of my pool daily. I don’t think of my interest in the pool as being motivated by the frustration of potentially dirty water. I invest my time in the condition of my pool because I want the water to be clean so that it can be enjoyed by my children and grandchildren.
God does not desire to be an intrusion in our lives, He wants His ever-present nature to be a blessing to us. I don’t think He hopes He will have to remove sin found in our lives, I believe He hopes that the righteousness of Christ living in us will keep us clean and seeking increased righteousness in our thoughts, words and actions. His plan is that as Christ increases in our lives our sinful nature decreases. God’s great love for us and our healthy spiritual condition motivates Him to continuously look into, and at the condition of, our hearts and minds.
Psalm 139 is all about God’s constant, loving oversight. The first six verses speak specifically to how close He pays attention to us…O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand! God pays such close attention to our lives because He loves us so much.
When I notice the debris accumulating in my pool I have to get the vacuum out because I do not want the dirt to have an adverse effect on the clarity and health of the water. God also is willing to enter our lives and clean us when necessary so that the sin doesn’t find a foothold and multiply. The final verses of Psalm 139 speak to King David’s invitation for the cleansing work of God. Verses 23 and 24 say this, Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
When we invite the Holy Spirit’s conviction into our lives it is intended to be a positive experience. Don’t get me wrong, it is difficult at first, but the more you see the benefits of His redemptive work in your life the more grateful you become for His conviction. I don’t enjoy finding that sin has crept in, and what offends God should offend me, but the fact that sin is being pointed out so that it can be cleaned up should be cause for gratitude. Thankfully if God points our sin out, and we respond with repentance, He will clean us up. 1st John 1:9 says If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is worth being happy about.
So now, inviting the Holy Spirit’s convicting and redemptive power into your life so that you can be cleansed of the impurities that make their way in, thank God for the close eye He keeps on you and…Go be Awesome!
Marriage & Divorce Vol. 9
Hi, this is Pastor Ken thanks for joining me once again for the Monday Marriage Message where we search God’s instructions to experience a highly successful marriage.
This will be the ninth installment in our series focusing on the topic of marriage and divorce based primarily on a conversation Jesus had with some of the Pharisees recorded for us in Matthew chapter 19 and Mark chapter 10. Over the past several weeks we have looked at that portion of the law from Deuteronomy the Pharisees were using as evidence for their position in the discussion, as well as scripture found in the book of Malachi that clearly states God’s stance on the matter. This week we will resume with the conversation Jesus was involved in that we stepped away from a few episodes back.
When we last visited their conversation, Jesus had just asked the Pharisees a couple of questions. I will remind you as I have shared in past episodes that I believe Jesus was having a three-way conversation between himself, and two opposing groups of Pharisees. Though it is admittedly only my belief that both of these groups were independently questioning Jesus as a part of the overall conversation, the existence of these differing groups is not in question. The two schools, one of Hillel and the other of Shammai were so named after the sages who founded them. Those who followed Shammai were more conservative when it came to matters of divorce believing based on Deuteronomy 24:1-4 that some indecency must be found in one’s wife to justify divorcing her. I believe the book of Mark records the portion of the conversation that was the exchange with them. The school of Hillel was far more liberal in terms of what they believed Deuteronomy 24:1-4 allowed as grounds for divorce. Their position was that all a man needed was be displeased with his wife, literally for any reason, and He could divorce her. It is my thought that Matthew chapter 19 records Jesus’ interaction with these men.
It is recorded for us in Mark 10:3-4 that Jesus asked the Pharisees, “What did Moses Command you?” to which they replied, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and dismiss her.” It is recorded in Matthew 19:4-7 that his question to them was “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, 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?’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together let not man separate.” They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce and put her away?”
In recent episodes I’ve uncovered for you the scripture they were using as the basis for their replies to Jesus. In Volume 6 of this series I went through the portion of the law found in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and broke it down explaining its meaning phrase by phrase. In volume 7, I explained the differences between demonstrable law and case law, along with other facts important to the correct interpretation of the aforementioned scripture. Additionally, I explained why the Pharisee’s sinful actions of the time tempted them to misappropriate this particular scripture.
Before moving on to the conclusion of the exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees, I want to point out why I believe Jesus to have been speaking with delegates of both of these groups. I think that His questions to each recorded by Mark and then Matthew were intentionally presented because of their varying thought processes. I think Jesus asked each questions that lent themselves specifically to the more conservative or liberal beliefs of the two groups. I also believe that because the Pharisee’s had come to Jesus with only one unified mindset…to test and entrap Jesus in His answers, He turned the tables and allowed their selfish motivations to entrap them in the answers they gave. In doing this, Christ not only avoided the pitfall they were attempting to lay to cause Him a problem, He also exposed the error in both groups thinking, and that it was robbing them of the opportunity to know the fullness of God’s blessing in their own marriages.
Picking up now where we left off, let’s look at what Jesus had to say in response to the Pharisees answers to His questions. Mark 10:5-9 tell us, And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart, he [Moses] wrote you this precept. [Deuteronomy 24:1-4]. But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh; so then they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together let not man separate. In this account given us by Mark and in my belief, spoken to the more conservative group of Pharisees, this is His reply to their answer to What did Moses command you? This reply clearly indicated to them that their error was in the portion of the law they were turning to when considering the topic. Jesus was redirecting them to the correct answer regarding what Moses had commanded them in Genesis 2:24. Christ was clearly saying that the command once married was to remain in the “One Flesh” condition God had created of them and their spouse. Jesus went on to reiterate that what God does, in this case taking a man and a woman and making them one, man does not have the capacity to undo…and shouldn’t even try.
Matthew 19:8-9 record what Jesus told the Pharisees who asked “Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” He said to them, “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery.” What was Jesus saying to these men? Was He saying it to just them, or was it for all of us? In my belief…both. These were the far more liberal group of Pharisees. These were of the school of Hillel who believed that Deuteronomy 24 gave them license to divorce their wives for any reason they found fit. These men were extremely cavalier when it came to their marriages. For them, marriage was little more than an arrangement that allowed them to have sex with a woman without committing fornication. Because of their incredibly casual valuation of marriage, their hearts had become very calloused and hard toward their relationship with God. They were mutilating scriptural guidance meant to direct them into blessing so they could pervert it, and use it to justify their own wanton selfishness. Historical documents of the time reveal that these particular Pharisees were literally marrying and then divorcing as soon as their desire for a new wife emerged. Their use of marriage had nothing to do with covenant and everything to do with covering up their sinful hearts by ensuring they were married to the current woman of their desire. There was never any intention for their marriages to last a lifetime…only as long as their lust endured.
With this historical context in mind, it becomes clearer that Jesus was indeed speaking directly to these men. He was pointing out their hypocrisy by telling them that if they divorced for any reason short of pornea, the unfaithful sexual immorality of a spouse, they were committing adultery, and were causing anyone who married their former spouse to commit adultery. Jesus’ answer contained an incredibly interesting parallel to the facts in evidence in the very case law the Pharisees used to justify their freedom to divorce. If you will recall, the circumstances of the case were that if a man found some indecency short of sexual immorality and divorced his wife, it was insinuated that by unjustifiably putting her in a position to remarry another, her former husband defiled her.
What about Jesus statement that Moses had indeed permitted them to divorce…even if because of the hardness of their hearts? Doesn’t that indicate God says we can divorce? Yes…and no. God will let us divorce, but does not offer His express permission to do so. We can’t accurately cherry pick the parts of Jesus statement we like and ignore the existence of the ones we don’t. His words recorded for us in Matthew 19:8 were “Moses because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. Considering His complete statement there are several things that must be taken into account if we are going to use this scripture to endorse divorce.
- “Because of the hardness of your hearts” Jesus is abundantly clear…divorce is a result of a hard heart. While we might think the hardened heart is toward the spouse of the one seeking a divorce, and that might be true, I believe Jesus was pointing out it really reveals a hard heart toward God. Jesus said that short of pornea we shouldn’t try to undo what God has done. To do so is to act in opposition to God. A person in a “bad marriage” who seeks to divorce, is a person who has decided to end the marriage instead of waiting on God to have His will and way. Am I saying that if people will simply remain in difficult marriages longer God will always change the heart of their spouse…I am not. What I am saying is that to remain in the “One Flesh” condition God created is the best setting for necessary change to take place…in both spouses.
- “Moses…permitted you to divorce your wives” first we have to look at the inference in the original text we translate to the English word permitted. Literally it means that Moses suffered them to divorce their wives. the meaning is much the same as when we allow, permit, or suffer our children to make a difficult mistake that we know will have painful consequences. No good parent does this when they might be able to persuade their child to do the right thing. This permission is only given when the child cannot be dissuaded and they are headstrong to do the wrong thing. The parent then stands back, knowing their child is in no uncertain terms headed for a painful outcome, but helplessly remains as close as allowed to help pick up the pieces later. This statement in no way indicated Moses or God had agreed with the people that divorce was a solution to their difficult marriages.
- “but from the beginning it was not so” Here Jesus was making the point that divorce has never been the plan when it comes to marriage. Therefore, when we divorce we are acting contrary to God’s plan for us, and we are outside His will. Tough words I know, but Jesus said them, you’ll have to plead for your own exclusion. Or…if you have divorced you can do what should be done, repent. This is one of the most difficult, and freeing things you can do. Ask God to forgive you for stepping outside of His plan for your marriage and your life. If necessary, seek the forgiveness of a former spouse as well. Then regardless of your current marital status, determine in your heart you will never go down that road again. In the future you will allow God to lead and to guide, but you will not seek to undo what He has done.
So now, committing to remain in the “One Flesh” condition God has created of you and your spouse, and seeking His help to make your marriage all He wants it to be…Go Be Awesome!