| Church School Lesson: Love That Shapes Society |
"Love that Shapes Society"
April 26, 2026
Background: Deuteronomy 6:3-9; Matthew 19:3-9; Luke 2:40-52; 24:28-32;
Ephesians 6:1-9; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; 3:14-15;
Print: Deuteronomy 6:3-9;Matthew 19:3-9;
Key Verse: Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Devotional: 2 Samuel 7:25-29
Deuteronomy 6:3-9 (ESV)
3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Matthew 19:3-9 (ESV)
3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?”
4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,
5 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’?
6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”
8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
Deuteronomy Chapter 6/Matthew Chapter 19 (Commentary)
Deuteronomy 6:1-3 Many years later, King Solomon would write, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 9:10). But Moses already knew this truth. Fearing God (reverencing and respecting him) was necessary if Israel was to obey him and have a long life (6:2). He therefore urged them to be careful to follow God’s instructions so that they would prosper and multiply (6:3).
6:4-9 These verses are known in Judaism as the Shema, which is the Hebrew word that begins 6:4; it means “listen, hear.” Moses was calling the people to sit up and take notes on what he was about to say because of how important it was. In fact, Jesus would later call it “the greatest and most important command” (Matt 22:37-39). Moses said, Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength (6:4-5). It was vital that the people get this right because if the Israelites were going to survive and thrive in the promised land, the family unit would have to become the primary place where faith in and love for the Lord was modeled and transferred. Parents are to teach God’s commandments and statutes regularly to their children in the everyday events of life (6:7-9).
Matthew 19:1-3 After a time of performing miraculous healings, Jesus was approached by the Pharisees with a theological question. However, they weren’t interested in having a sincere discussion; they wanted to test him. They asked, Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife on any grounds? (19:3). In other words, can a man quit his marriage when he gets tired of his wife? Is it OK for a couple to get divorced for “irreconcilable differences”?
Divorce is a difficult subject—and one that has affected virtually every American, either directly or indirectly. Today, divorce is easily attainable, and since so many marriages end in it, many couples hedge their bets by signing a prenuptial agreement to protect themselves. Jesus’s response to the Pharisees was not easy for the disciples to hear (19:10), nor is it popular in today’s culture—even among many Christians. But the question is this: Are you willing to listen to what the Son of God has to say on this subject?
19:4 Among the Israelites of Jesus’s day, there were both conservative and liberal views of divorce taught by the rabbis. The liberal perspective said a man could divorce his wife for almost any reason—including if she burned his dinner. The Pharisees wanted Jesus to take a side to stir up controversy.
Jesus didn’t offer a mere opinion, though. He pointed them to God’s Word: Haven’t you read? He hit the Pharisees right between the eyes by essentially asking, “Don’t you know your Bible?” He showed them that the only reason they were posing a question about divorce is because they didn’t understand marriage. Before we can talk about divorce, then, we need to understand what marriage is. What does Scripture say? In the beginning God made them male and female (see Gen 2:24). At the dawn of creation, God made one man for one woman, with no escape hatch.