Marriage as Worship - Pastor Tom Loghry
In Malachi 2:10-16, Malachi challenges the people to be faithful to God and their spouses in their marriages.
Transcript:
Do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? Judah has been unfaithful. A distasteful thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign God.
As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob, even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty. Malachi two 10 and 12.
There are two things that should be said before we look at today's text, and the first is this: that it's important for us to remember that what is before us is the word of God. It's not the word of man. It's nothing that I came up with. This is the word of God given to us in scripture, and as a preacher, my aim is simply this, to tell you what the text says and to help you give a right response in applying it to your life as it stands today. I don't preach presuming to know everything about you or your story, but God knows you. He knows how you have gone astray and he knows how you have been faithful. And you can come to know this for yourself as you hear the word of God, as you learn his standard, God's wisdom, the divine way for human life.
Now, the good news is that the grace of Jesus Christ is sufficient to cover our past sins, and he is able to work repentance in us today if we are still walking in error. And one of the great benefits of preaching through books of the Bible rather than just picking or choosing texts is that it compels us to cover territory that we might otherwise avoid just because it is difficult, even painful terrain.
And as I was contemplating what I was gonna be preaching after we finished up our series in Acts and I was looking at the books and I was looking at Malachi and I was like, wow, Malachi's a powerful book. It's got some tough things in it. Initially I kind of backed off. I was like, I don't know if I want to do this.
But I felt compelled by God that I should continue in preaching Malachi, that I should preach this book. And so, as I mentioned last week, in light of God's expectations, that his priests would instruct the people of Israel. It is my responsibility to instruct you in the complete counsel of God, and I can't emphasize more strongly that this counsel includes this promise, which I reminded you of last week, First John one, nine, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The second thing is this. Let's pay attention to the context here. I recently put out a truth rooted video on our website about the subject of noticing the context of scripture as we're reading the Bible, looking at a verse, what are are the surrounding verses saying. Well, as we are looking at today's text, we remain in the context of God confronting Israel regarding their conduct and worship.
And I talked last week about how worship is a matter of justice, giving God our very best, and that this is headlined by actual services of worship like we're in today, but also filled out all the more by offering the entirety of our lives as living sacrifices unto God. This carries it over into what the Lord now has to say to Israel about their faithless marriage practices.
So we first look at verses 10 through 12 in Malachi two. And one thing I just wanna note at the outset, if you're using the Pew Bible, while the Pew Bible is NIV, the NIV I'm using from online is a newer version, and so there'll be some differences and I'll, I'll point out some of those differences later on.
I won't point all the differences, but there's some notable ones later on. So I'll read the text again. Says, do we not all have one father? Do not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another? Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign God. As for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob, even though he brings an offering to the Lord Almighty. First thing that we have here in verse 10 is this recollection of who God is in relation to the people of Israel.
Says, do we not all have one father? Did not one God create us? And of course, we could say the same for ourselves, especially as Christians. God created all of humanity and he is certainly our father in Jesus Christ. And we remember that at the outset of the Book of Malachi, God makes this declaration to Israel that he has loved them.
He says, I have loved you. Now, in light of this relationship that God has with Israel, his covenant people, it highlights all the more their infidelity towards him by way of their marriage practices. It says that the people of Israel profaned their covenant with God, that they've been unfaithful, in fact, to one another.
And so this raises the question, well, how have they profaned the covenant and how have they been unfaithful, even treacherous to one another. In verse 11, the way in which the covenant has been been profaned is identified as this. It says, Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign God.
Now, once again, this just underscores that the context we're dealing with here is worship. We're talking about the sanctuary of the Lord, that place in which the Lord would be worshiped, the temple that has been desecrated because Judah, the men of Judah, have been marrying women who worship a foreign God.
And the implication is this, is that these men have gone after these foreign gods and offered worship unto them rather than unto the God of Israel. And this profanes the covenant that God made with his people because he expressly forbade them, commanded them to not intermarry with the surrounding peoples.
Not because God's racist or anything like that, but because all the surrounding peoples worshiped false gods. And this is the case across the world today, but it was especially true in ancient times that, very often, where you grew up, you simply worship the God of your people. It just went, it went hand in hand.
They didn't live in pluralistic societies where you had a bunch of people worshiping various different gods in one society. That began to change over time, especially as you have more of a sprawling empire once you get into the time of of Christ, but especially at this time. You're from a particular group, they all worship this god, if you intermarry with that group, you're gonna start having some division of loyalty when it comes to the worship of God. In Exodus 34, verses 11 through 16, God commanded the people of Israel. This is at the time when Moses had received the 10 Commandments, this covenant with the people of Israel.
He says. Obey what I command you today. I'll drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Be careful to not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you're going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and cut down their Asherah poles.
Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is jealous is a jealous God. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they'll invite you and you'll eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons, and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they'll lead your sons to do the same.
So the concern here again, is that if the people of Israel begin intermarrying with these other people, they would in fact abandon the one true God. And that is in fact what takes place again and again over over the course of Israel's history. God promised them, I will drive out the people of the land.
When the Israelites entered into the land, they did not finish the job and driving out the people of the land. And ultimately this sowed the seeds that ultimately bore the fruit of them profaning this covenant with God. And even after the exile, which is the situation here, the situation remains that there's people who worship false gods in the area in which they're living and they're intermarrying with them.
Now, just to once again underscore that this isn't about race, it's really about religion. We think about the woman, Ruth, has a whole book named after her. Ruth was not a Jewish woman. She was a Moabite. And so in the one sense, the fact that a Jewish man married her, not great, but we see how God redeemed her and used her. And in fact, Christ is descended from her because she turned her heart to God. In Ruth 1:16, she says to, her mother-in-law, Naomi, where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. So we're not saying that there isn't any exceptions here.
The rule is this, generally it's a good rule and it's a reason why God commanded them against intermarrying with these foreign women was that if they did this, they were eventually going to compromise their faithfulness to the one true God. They were going to enter into idolatry, and in fact, we see that this happened in the case of Solomon.
Nehemiah, who would've been writing a little bit after this time that Malachi's writing in, and it was still an issue. He talks about how Solomon engaged in this very sin. He says, was it not because of marriages like these, that Solomon King of Israel sinned among the many nations? There was no king like him.
He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women? In First Kings 11 it talks about how that, in fact, was what happened with Solomon in his old age as he had married these many women from different nations, his heart was led astray.
He began worshiping these false idols, and so this unfaithfulness to God is leading them to idolatry. It's leading them astray and it is resulting in this outcome that there's this breakdown in the Israelite society because as you might imagine, if there's these men who are intermarrying with the foreign women around them, then there's fewer Israelite men to marry Israelite women.
And so it's corrupting what God has intended for his people in being set apart and exclusively devoted to his worship. Again, this is a matter of worship and if we are gonna take this and, and try to draw parallels to ourselves today, we would likewise say that this isn't a matter of race, it's a matter of of religion.
And. I wanna take us to some New Testament texts here, and I want the focus here right in this moment to be in considering, for considerations of those who are not yet married. We're gonna look at other texts that speak to those of you who are already married, may be married to people who are non-Christians.
That's the past. We can't deal with the past, that is what it is, but this word, especially for those that are not yet married. Paul, in Second Corinthians 6:14- 16, he says, do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will live with them and walk among them and I will be their God and they will be my people.
So very much again, we see God commanding his people here in Malachi saying, don't intermarry with those who worship false gods because it's gonna divide your heart. It's gonna lead you astray. And Paul is saying very much the same thing. He's saying, you're the temple of God. Don't be unequally yoked with those who have devotions to gods which are not the one true God.
And in giving some practical instruction, in First Corinthians 7: 39, Paul says that if a woman is bound, he says A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she's free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. He must belong to the Lord. So Paul is very clear that it's important for us to seek spouses that also are devoted to Christ, that worship the one true God.
Now, the point of this, again, thinking about worship, is that we wanna seek spouses that are gonna fortify our devotion in worshiping God with the entirety of our lives, not creating challenges, presenting temptations of dividing our worship. And of course, also, if the Lord so blesses that you would raise children who would worship the one true God.
And again, you know, I, I commented earlier about some of the challenges that were created probably for Israelite society by the fact that these men were marrying foreign women. We also have to consider what are the challenges that are presented to the church when Christian men and and women are not seeking spouses who are also Christians, and that puts other Christians who are also seeking spouses where they're left looking for people of the same faith because those who were of the same faith married those who didn't follow Christ. And so we have to just be very mindful in thinking about this. Again, not speaking to those who've already, who are already married, but to those that are thinking about getting married and also just thinking for those of you who are parents, who have children that are, are Christians, how, how are you going to counsel them in the future in this regard?
Because we, while we want to certainly welcome all sorts of families into the church that may be divided in the faith because that means that we're doing our job and reaching people with Christ, we don't want to premeditatedly create divided homes of faith. So again, applying this especially to those, specifically to those that are unmarried, but speaking to those that are married here in Malachi.
In this case, there's a word of judgment. He says, as for the man who does this, whoever he may be, may the Lord remove him from the tents of Jacob, even though he brings an offering to the Lord. So a very stern word, a very stern word. Now we live on the other side of the cross, and we have received the grace of Jesus Christ.
And I'm gonna be taking us to some other passages here that show us the hope that we have in Christ, even if we are married to those that don't follow Christ. And the reasons for that can be, can be various, but there is hope for us in Christ. But at this point in salvation history, God's saying this is the black and white here, and you're gonna face judgment because you have not been faithful to my ways. So Malachi turns now from those who have sought idolatrous wives to another sin that in some cases may have proceeded this sin. In verse 13, it says, another thing you do: you flood the Lord's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with favor in your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands. You ask, why? It is because the Lord is the witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she's your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant. Has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek?
Godly offspring. So be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth. The man who hates and divorces his wife, says the Lord, the God of Israel, does violence to the one he should protect, says the Lord Almighty. So be on your guard and do not be unfaithful.
So again, it may be that these instances of a divorce may be occurring because these men are basically checking out all the foreign women around them, and so they're divorcing their Jewish wives and they're going after these other women. And so in that case they're being unfaithful, but it may be, Malachi may be simply speaking to divorce itself here.
And in that case, it remains that there's been a covenant that has been broken, the covenant of marriage, which God is a divine witness to, and it's because of this practice of divorce that is ongoing in the Israelite society that their offerings are not accepted. And the reason being is they're not repentant.
They're brazen and unrepentant in their practice of doing this, and yet they're going through the motions of offering worship and wondering why God isn't listening. It's because they're just offering him lip service. They're not actually offering their lives in worship unto God by being obedient to his commands.
And what we see being really highlighted here in this passage is the tragedy that is divorce, The breaking of that covenant, the breaking of the one flesh union. And this is why Jesus speaks against it in the way that he does in Matthew 19, verses four through six and verse nine, he says, haven't you read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and said, for this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh? So they're no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. And Jesus is quoting here from Genesis 2: 24 and he's identifying there's a real union that's created here where husband and wife become one flesh, and that this is something that God himself actually makes real.
And in verse nine he says, I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another woman commits adultery. And so, you know, biblical scholars might debate exactly on the bounds of what Jesus is talking about here when he is talking about adultery. The idea though here is this, is that jesus is saying that if someone just divorces for any reason and then goes and marries another, they're in fact committing adultery because whatever man may say about oh, our union no longer stands, before God, that one flesh union remains all the same. And so unless someone has already gone ahead and broken that union by committing adultery, it is creating an opportunity for sin by pursuing divorce. Now, I think there's some, also some practical pastoral wisdom when we're thinking about situations like this. We're certainly not counseling that people should remain in circumstances if they're in actual danger. The point here that Jesus is making, in which God is really making altogether, of course, through the words of Christ, the Son of God, but also in Malachi, is the idea that this, this covenant, this marriage covenant is something that's inviable.
It's something that we must treat with great seriousness. And we see this brought up in First Corinthians seven verses 10 through 11, the firm stance that Paul takes against it, he says to the married, I give this command (not I, but the Lord): a wife must not separate from her husband, but if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband, and a husband must not divorce his wife.
Now we ask why. Why again? Why is that the case? It's because of this one flesh reality, which takes us to verse 15. It says, has not the one God made you? You belong to him in body and spirit. Now this is where if you were to open up your Pew Bible and you're going to look at the text, you would notice some, some differences.
And I've created this list of various translations of how they try to translate these verses because they're difficult verses to translate and this is why, it's just, practical word of advice, it can be helpful for you to consult different translations of the Bible to really try to get a sense of what is trying to be said. Now, given the context, I actually kind of prefer the ESV translation here, which says, did he not make them one with a portion of the spirit in their union, because that's very much what Jesus is saying. That's going back to Genesis two. You can see how difficult it is just by looking at the Malachi 2: 15 one, which the NASB is a very literal translation.
It's, it says, but not one has done so who has a remnant of the spirit. And why the one? Like that's very, very difficult sort of translation work there. But again, I think the overall point here is that it's God who makes us one in this marital union and we belong to him in body and spirit. We answer to him.
And so keeping in mind Paul's command that we are to marry believers, I think that Paul also offers hope to those who are married to unbelievers because those who are in those circumstances have the opportunity to be faithful in this regard. Because we're seeing here very clearly that God doesn't like divorce. In First Corinthians seven verses 12 through 16, he says to the rest I say this (I not the Lord), when Paul says that he's not, he's not suggesting that this is any less authoritative. He's just not pulling from a prior tradition of what Christ said. He says, if any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she's willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he's willing to live with her, she must not divorce him.
For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean. But as it is, they are holy. But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or sister is not bound in such certain circumstances; God has called us to live in peace.
How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband, or how do you know husband, whether you will save your wife? So what Paul is saying here is that unless the unbelieving spouse is determined to leave the marriage, this command to faithfulness applies in full force with the sanctifying power of Jesus Christ in your marriage.
Now, let me tell you, that's good news. That is good news, and this is a major difference because if you, if you know your Old Testament well, you'll know that during this time, in fact, in Ezra 10, there's a call for the Israelite men to divorce their foreign wives and families and send them away. Now, that was then, that was on that side of the cross.
On this side of the cross, with Jesus, we see the power of his redeeming work, which is available and present in your life. God can work through you to sanctify your marriage. And Lord willing, lead your spouse to Christ and lead your your children to Christ. Now when we get down to verse 16, we just once again see very much God's rejection of this practice.
Now, if you were going to open again, open your Pew Bible, and if you're gonna look at other translations, it would say here that God hates divorce. Now this translation doesn't say that because again, it's a tricky translation because it seems like it's actually referring to the man who's doing the divorcing here.
The point remains, we're not trying to water down God's word. We can tell from this passage that God hates divorce. He doesn't, he doesn't like it. You don't need an actual verse stating that to come to that conclusion. But we see here, says the man who hates and divorces his wife, says the Lord, the God of Israel, does violence to the one he should protect.
The idea is, is this, is that these husbands in their marriages, they've been called to protect their wives, to care for them, to be faithful to them for all their days until they are parted by death.
And instead, these men are committing violence against their, their marriage, covering. Other translations pick up that, that term of covering. God in talking about his relationship with Israel speaks of how he says, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body, that's Ezekiel 16:8.
These men, it's like they've taken their garment of covering over their wives. They're supposed to be protecting, caring for them, and instead they're despising that covering and they're really putting these women out into the cold. Something that I think continues to be real today, but it was especially real at that time, was just the vulnerability of these women when they were divorced.
When they were divorced, they weren't really prime marriage material to get remarried. They didn't have great means to provide for themselves, and so it was a great injustice that they were suffering. We kind of see this captured the 19th century commentator on this passage, and he, he describes it this way.
Walt Kaiser in his commentary quotes this fellow T. V. Moore, he says, she whom you thus wronged was the companion of those earlier and brighter days when in the bloom of her young beauty, she left her father's house and shared your early struggles and rejoiced in your later success; who walked arm in arm with you along the pilgrimage of life, cheering you in its trials by her gentle ministry; and now, when the bloom of her youth has faded and the friends of her youth have gone, when her father and mother whom she left for you are in the grave, then you cruelly cast her off as a worn out, worthless thing, and insult her holiest affections by putting an idolater and a heathen in her place. I think that very much captures kind of just the utter tragedy of what's going on here among the men of Israel and what they have been doing to their wives. And that's a tragedy and injustice that we see today. And, and it, and the thing is, is we can see that injustice. It's not just a, a husband against wife thing. We see it in wives against husbands too. And the faithfulness that husbands have, have shown to their wives only to be rejected later on and, and set aside.
It is, a divorce is a terrible, an injustice against spouses, husbands and wives. And it's an injustice against God, because we are dividing, we are tearing apart that which God has joined together. And so we have this, this final charge here in verse 16 says, so be on your guard, and do not be unfaithful. What this really is, is a call for being vigilant and vigilant is just a very distinct form of faithful. If I'm calling you to be faithful, to be really faithful, you're going to have to be vigilant.
And so perhaps, you know, last time I mentioned how worship is a matter of justice and perhaps you had never considered that.
Now, I want you to also consider this, that worship is a matter of vigilance to those who are unmarried. If you're going to be faithful to God in offering your life as a living sacrifice of worship, you will need to be vigilant when seeking a spouse. Does he or she truly have faith in Christ? Is he or she truly following Christ?
Can you build a life of worship together with this person, or are they going to try to put other things at the center of your life? It's difficult enough as it is with two Christians, because two Christians can be just as tempted to put the wrong things in the center. We must heed God's wisdom in seeking a spouse of the same faith.
To those who are married, faithfulness in your marriage requires vigilance. If your marriage will be an engine of worship, husband and wife, you both should guard against any divide forming between you. You have made a covenant before God. You are one flesh. Perhaps you're married to an unbeliever. It still remains that you can worship God in your marriage.
Your ardent faithfulness glorifies God and may bear fruit in the life of your spouse and children. For all marriages, Christian or mixed, don't seek divorce. Let's worship God in this one flesh covenant. Let's counsel our children and any who are single to seek spouses of the same faith.
Every difficult word we receive from the word of God, every instruction that reveals our errors and sins, only sets in greater relief the good news of God's grace towards us. And by us I mean any of us, all of us who have put our trust in Christ. You are accepted by God. You have a place in his household, not because of who you are or what you've done, but because of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done.
We confess our sins. We are forgiven and we move forward. So let's walk in obedience to the way of life that God has set before us in Jesus Christ. Let's pray.
Dear Father, we are so humbled and challenged by your word.
It is difficult to live in this world, father, and it's, it's difficult to find people that we can spend the rest of our lives with.
Father, if we are in a position where we are not yet married please help us to set above all things a desire that we would find a spouse who worships you, who's devoted to you, that for all of us who are parents or grandparents, father, those who are Christians, that we would pray the same for them.
Father, we pray that you would help us be faithful in our marriages, that if we are Christians father, that we would build each other in the faith that we share,
that we would remind ourselves of these scriptural truths. That we may seek to glorify you and our union together and that Father, if we are married to anyone that's not a Christian father, that we would seek to live out the gospel in our marriage. That we would show the grace of Jesus Christ to our spouses and children, that you would be glorified in that Father. And we pray that you would move upon their hearts, that they would come to know Jesus Christ so that homes will no longer be divided, but be united in worshiping and glorifying you, the one true God who is worthy of all our praise. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)