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Grace to you and peace
from God our Father

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and from our Lord and
our Savior Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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I bring you greetings
from your sister seminary

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in Fort Wayne, Indiana,
from the President

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Bruss, from our faculty,
staff, and students,

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and our text for this
morning is the gospel

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that was read.

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For those of us who
still hold to the biblical

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understanding of
marriage as the divinely

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instituted lifelong
union between one man

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and one woman, as
revealed in Genesis chapter

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2, it has been absolutely
shocking to witness

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what has happened to
the institution of marriage

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over the past two
decades in our culture

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and in the wider
Christian church.

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What has especially
shocked so many of us is

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that not that our
culture with the blessing

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of civil courts has
redefined marriage, but

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that several Christian
denominations have

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not stood steadfast
in confessing marriage

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as revealed in
the holy scriptures.

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It did not take long for
churches who embraced

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homosexuality to
also redefine marriage.

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We have seen it in the
Evangelical Lutheran

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Church of America and
most recently this past

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summer, especially in the
United Methodist Church.

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And even Roman
Catholics, whom we thought

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shared our strong
convictions on marriage,

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are showing major
cracks in the foundation

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that with Pope Francis
advocating the blessing

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of homosexual unions.

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Some Christians look
at what has happened,

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many of us, and
we feel discouraged.

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Almost like looking
at the aftermath of a

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devastating hurricane
and wondering if order

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will ever return.

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Should we be
surprised by this drift in

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culture and even in
the church on marriage?

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Our gospel reading
from Mark 10 that we just

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heard helps us to see
that people, yes even

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God's people, descended
from Abraham have

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been pushing back
on this understanding of

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marriage that was
revealed in Genesis from

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the beginning and
they've been doing it for

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centuries.

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These Pharisees sought
to pull Jesus into that

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heated debate between
the rabbinic schools

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of Shammai and
Hillel about how

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easily a Jew could
end their marriage.

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Jesus directs them and
he directs us this morning

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back to the Scriptures
with that question,

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what did Moses command you?

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Rather than going to what
Moses wrote in Genesis

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1 and 2, they skipped
to Deuteronomy 24, 1

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and quote that back to
Jesus where Moses speaks

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of a man writing a
certificate of divorce

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and sending away his wife.

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Here we see the
selective use of the

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Scriptures to suit
one's own purpose.

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Satan did that very
well with Psalm 91.

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Jesus makes it clear
that just because Moses

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allowed this action,
it does not follow that

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this reflects God's will
for marriage or changes

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what God has stated
about the one flesh union

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from the very
beginning of creation.

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Listen again to what
Jesus says to us.

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Because of your
hardness of heart,

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he wrote you this
commandment.

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But from the
beginning of creation,

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God made them
male and female.

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Therefore a man should
leave his father and

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mother and hold fast
to his wife and the two

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will become one flesh.

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So they are no longer
two but one flesh.

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What therefore God has joined

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together, let
man not separate.

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This world may propose
no fault divorces or

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same sex unions but
none of that can or should

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change what has been
from the beginning in

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marriage especially
within the church and

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what has been written in
Scripture for our instruction.

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You, each of you are
needed out there to reveal

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what the Scriptures
reveal including what

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they reveal about the sacred
institution of marriage.

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And Jesus reinforces
the sacredness of this

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lifelong union by
emphasizing with His disciples

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this inner circle after
He leaves this wider

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discussion when He
talks about that divorcing

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someone for a
non-biblical reason and

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marrying another is
committing adultery.

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It's sin.

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Now it is not coincidental
that immediately

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after Jesus' teaching
about marriage, Mark

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records Jesus speaking
about children, about

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the value of children
in the kingdom of God.

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You heard it.

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Just as children are
the fruit of marriage, so

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the valuing of marriage
leads to the valuing

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of children.

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Unlike this world that
often sees children as

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a hindrance and a
burden to the individuals

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or a couple's pursuit
of happiness, Jesus

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teaches that children
are precious in the

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kingdom of God, that
they exemplify in their

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trust in God's grace from
the moment of baptism,

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they exemplify
faith, true faith.

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Indeed, there are few
experiences that teach

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you more about marriage
and love than welcoming

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your first child.

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I remember it vividly
29 years ago with the

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birth of my son and it
came to mind in a very

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full and rich way on
Saturday when my son

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welcomed his first
child, his daughter, my

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first grandchild and
I beheld that little

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girl and marveled at
the miracle of creation

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and the blessing
of this institution

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of marriage from
which children come.

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We need not despair
about this world's

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understandings of
marriage, family and children.

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Hard hearts can be changed
to beat with life-giving

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faith fixed on Jesus
Christ one baptism at

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a time.

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Not only does this text
renew and strengthen

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our commitment to
biblical marriage and family,

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but so also does this
holy supper that we will

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soon receive, that you
will receive because

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here you experience
the sacrificial love

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of Jesus, your
bridegroom, as He gives you

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His beloved and precious
bride, His own body

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and His very blood to
eat and drink, a body

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that was broken and
blood that was poured out

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as an atoning sacrifice
for each and every

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one of your sins.

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Today you are
experiencing the eternal, not

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just an earthly life
long, but the eternal

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marriage of Christ to
you, His church, His

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steadfast love, His
enduring never-ending

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commitment to
each of you as His

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beloved bride and
His precious children.

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It is this marriage to
Christ, this one flesh

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union to Him that you
experience today that

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renews and refreshes
you and strengthens you

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for the struggles
that sin causes in life,

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in family, in marriage,
even your own.

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In the name of Jesus, amen.