Approximately 32 million adults in America are considered to be illiterate; about 14% of the entire adult population cannot read. Source.
As startling as a statistic is, my topic today has less to do with illiteracy then you might think. It is a genuine concern that many in America are illiterate yet even more alarming is the number of people that are not reading the Bible. It’s not because they can’t read but that they won’t read. That statistic is proving to be more concerning which goes beyond illiteracy.
LifeWay recently did I study in which they found, "...more than half of Americans have read little or none of the Bible." Lifeway Study. Startled yet? It may be unbelievable as we have so much access to the Word of God in this country.
And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his 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." (ESV) Matt. 19
Recently a pastor friend of mine gave me a book that he authored on the subject of marriage. As I began to thumb through its contents, I quickly realized that there are parallels that relate to this topic. The instructions for marriage are clearly laid out in scripture yet many debate it’s content. Divorce is at an all-time high and many choose to live together without the covenant before God in marriage. We find that the definition of marriage are hotly debated today with little regard for what the Bible has to say. There are even debate around what Jesus said about marriage in this passage of scripture I am referring to.
First of all, the prescription for marriage is easily spelled out in the Bible if we only would read it. Second I noticed that God’s plans for marriage went beyond procreation but the boundaries were clearly set by God. The problems we see in our world today have much to do with our lack of understanding God‘s plan. There seems to be the misunderstanding of what the Bible says.
Rev. Randy Blankenship, Sr. is Pastor of the New Life Church in Kokomo, Indiana. His book made clear God’s plan for healthy relationships and marriage.
Blankenship says; But in reality, while most people may acknowledge what the Bible says, many do not want to accept what the Bible says. I’m not sure this book will change that trend. However, I do believe that most people do not know why the Bible says what it says – and the reasons given by most, listed previously, do not come close to being the main reason why the Bible says what it says.
I could easily create an illustration on this. Often we receive instructions on how to put something together. It may be a bicycle or in my case, it was putting together a shelf for my daughter’s bathroom. There were only twenty parts to the shelf and all the screws were easily identified but for some reason I couldn’t get everything to fit together correctly. After I had exhausted my efforts and was clearly frustrated, I read the instructions and realized that I had stupidly misread the chart. How can I be so dumb? The paperwork was clear, if I had only read the instructions and directions first.
Back to Blankenship’s book. His book is filled with many illustrations and scriptures but most certainly an illustration for us, God’s children, as the bride awaiting her bridegroom. This mysterious love through a covenant unites the man and woman as one in Christ. The Bible not only spells this out throughout scripture, if we would but read it, but it even illustrates it too, making it easy for anyone to know His divine plan.
If the designer, God in Jesus, would’ve wanted the Bible to read differently, I believe He would’ve simply stated it that way as to the order of things in marriage. He had every opportunity to "set the record straight" on marriage and divorce.
Perhaps there are two elements to what is being said by Jesus in Matthew 19 which has implications for us today.
1. The religious leaders missed the essentials because they simply did not read.
The Pharisees were known for making God‘s plan exhaustively difficult to understand. They would create rules without reasons which made knowing God’s simple plan difficult. In an effort to more fully explain they simply missed the essential truth. Perhaps that’s why they asked Jesus such a question about divorce.
Jesus simply answered, "Have you not read?" He was attempting to point out to them that they missed the essential truth. Divorce is certainly not God’s plan but it does happen because people broke God‘s covenant. We also break agreements that are made between each other in the presence of God.
Divorce is not the unforgivable sin but Jesus instructed the man, who had the responsibility to provide appropriate documentation when it comes to divorce. Furthermore He explained what God intended for marriage. The religious leaders are the ones who made things difficult to understand.
2. We settle for half-baked answers when we do not read.
Once more and just as important for us to realize the implications of reading God’s Word that goes beyond His teaching marriage and divorce. Jesus was concerned about those who would give answers that were not complete. I might call these half-baked answers.
In giving a half-baked answer we might include only partial truth but it is by no means complete. As Jesus taught his followers, by answering the Pharisees, Ge gives a complete understand of what God’s Word and plan truly is.
If we failed to read God‘s Word and fully understand the solutions for our lives, as well as its application to our lives, we may use incomplete answers and therefore not find the solution we need. Similarly, as illustrated by my putting together the bookshelf or even understanding marriage as prescribed by scripture, we miss the designer’s plan. Could it be that Jesus is speaking to us even today, "Have you not read?"
