“Family Life in the Kingdom”

Matthew 19:1-15

Joe Fauth

We will divide the text up into four parts corresponding to four actions of Jesus as He is moving toward Jerusalem and His Divinely ordained appointment on the cross.

1. He Cares for the Crowds (19:1-2)

Note the word for “healed” is the word from which we get “therapy”…this is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isa 9…He is the WONDERFUL COUNSELOR!

2. He Corrects the Pharisees (19:3-9)

1). Their Trap

They were trying to trap Jesus…but this is really a sinister ploy of Satan to take Jesus away from the cross and thus away from God’s plan of redemption.

2). His Teaching

• Marriage is Created By God
• Marriage is Protected By God

3). The Truth

Why is divorce a reality? Because God commanded it? No, because heart-hardness demands it. Jesus clearly and definitively takes us right back to God’s original creation before the Fall and demonstrates that this issue of divorce is a post-fall issue. Which is exactly why He was going to Jerusalem.

3. He Consecrates Singleness (19:10-12)

The ideal of marriage set out in vv. 4-9 remains God’s standard for his people, but it is not, as many in Jesus’ day would have assumed, the only way of faithfulness to the Creator’s purpose. God’s people are not all the same, and are not all called to the same path of obedience (NICNT, p. 726). Thus singleness is not a failure or social stigma but a calling with which to glorify God.

4. He Comforts Children (19:13-15)

Even as so many women had been cast aside by the religious leaders to assuage their lusts, so children were often treated as a less-than-person. They weren’t really all the important in the big scheme of things…except to their parents. And here we have parents bringing their little children (babies, cf. 18:15) to Jesus. The disciples thought He didn’t have time for them…oh but He does! Why? “because of such is the kingdom of heaven”. He’s just showing tender mercy toward these little ones. He will not refuse them. Many, including myself, take these words to mean that God graciously extends His love and mercy towards those children who are not culpable. For He is going to the cross to purchase redemption for all that He would choose…and He chooses even these little ones to redeem. 

Application

2 Important Take-aways

• God is very serious about the institution of Marriage, and we should be too.
• God is very serious about the redemption of sinners, and we should be too.