In the Great Commandment, Jesus says that commitment to our love relationship with God positively impacts our relationship with others.
“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” - Matthew 22:37-39 (NIV)
But the opposite is also true - a negative relationship with God will negatively impact my relationship with others. Note verse 10.
“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then do we deal faithlessly and treacherously each against his brother, profaning the covenant of [God with] our fathers?”
- Malachi 2:10 (Amplified)
If we are not right with God, it will be reflected in the choices we make in our relationship with others. Malachi cites three such choices being made by the people of his day.
1. They were choosing compromise over conviction - vs. 11-12
Malachi says they had desecrated the Lord’s sanctuary by their practice of idolatry. In accepting other gods as being equal to Yahweh, they were saying, in effect, that He was not holy or separate or superior to the false gods of their pagan neighbors.
I think it is important to note that the problem here was not interracial marriage. A mixed multitude went out of Egypt with the Israelites (Exodus 12:38), but they committed themselves to Jehovah (Exodus 12:48; Numbers 9:14). Boaz married Ruth the Moabitess, but she had forsaken the false gods of her people for Israel’s God (Ruth 1:16).
But, these Israelites were marrying women who remain devoted to their false gods. The problem wasn’t interracial marriage, but interfaith marriage. Malachi says that the Lord would “cut off from the tents of Jacob” whoever it was who “marry the daughter of a foreign god.”
This judgment of God on those who married unbelievers is really one where He allows them to experience the consequences of their choice. The fact was, you see, that no matter who they were in the nation of Israel, they would find themselves cut off simply by virtue of the fact that the compromise they had made in choosing the unbeliever over the Lord would be a choice fraught with problems.
There was a reason God forbade intermarriage with unbelievers then and a reason God forbids it now. Paul makes clear what that reason is:
“Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?” - 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 (NLT)
The judgment upon those who marry unbelievers is this: it is difficult to walk with God when your spouse is pulling you in the opposite direction. Which is why God says they would find that they had, by virtue of this choice, made it difficult to walk with God and His people, “even though he brings offerings to the Lord Almighty.”
In the article, “Looking For Love” the author, writing under the name, “Ruth Doormat” says: “For nearly forty years I was married to a person who made no place for God in his life, yet was a good-living person, and an upright citizen. And we were most certainly NOT in harmony with each other; nor were we often pulling together! When I was 21, two choices lay in front of me: 1) To marry while I had the opportunity; 2) To stay single until I was sure what the Lord wanted me to do. It was like being at a fork in the road. One road is rough, corrugated, gravelly, uphill, windy – The other road is tarred, straight, (at least as far as the eye can see), wide, smooth. To me, the rough road represented life with Christ – but without Bob. The “good” road represented life with Bob, (whom I could see and touch), – but without having to put Christ first in my life. Of course I took the “good” road. It was the wrong road! I guess I was treating marriage like a two-legged stool (just Bob and I) – and expecting it to stand up! But both of us needed that third leg, Christ. And we left Him out. I didn’t mean to push Christ aside. It’s just that my need to feel loved by someone I could see and touch was so desperate, that I didn’t take seriously Christ’s words about being ‘unequally yoked
together.’”
She describes several issues she faced and sums it up by saying: “A born again believer cannot share the most important part of her life – the spiritual part – that part of her that has been united with Christ – with her husband. Because the Bible says, ‘The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned,’ (1 Corinthians 2:14).
Rather than finding their satisfaction in their love relationship with God, the people in Malachi’s day were left to find satisfaction in something or someone else, which lead them to choose compromise over conviction. Sadly, too many of God’s people today are doing the same thing, and are making choices that are causing their life to be far more difficult than what God would have wanted to them.
2. They were choosing hypocrisy over holiness - vs. 13-14
Despite the fact that their lives were not right with God, the people were “going through the motions” of worship and wondering why God seemed so distant. Rather than being willing to be honest about their sins, they were content instead to ignore each others sins and let each other off the hook, rather than get honest with each other about why they were so far from God.
This reminds me of the old joke about the guy who sat on a chair with a nail that had worked its way up through the seat, and sat their crying about it, but who was too lazy to get up off the chair!
These folks preferred to pretend to others that everything was alright than get honest and right with God. They preferred to cry about how distant God seemed than to do the repentance and reformation needed to get right with God. Too many today do the very same thing.
3. They were choosing convenience over commitment - vs. 14-16
The reason why God seemed so distant was that the people had moved away from Him! One sin that had drawn them from the Lord was that the men of Israel were trading in their older wives for newer models.
Does the Bible say there are legitimate reasons for divorce? Yes.
1) Sexual infidelity is justifiable grounds for divorce (Matthew 19:9). The innocent party can divorce and remarry without guilt.
2) Abuse and neglect are justifiable grounds for divorce (Exodus 21:10-11). The innocent party is free to remarry without guilt.
3) If a divorce occurs for other reasons, the one who did not want the divorce is considered guiltless (Deuteronomy 24:1-2).
But it is clear that none of these legitimate reasons for divorce were being observed by the men of Israel. They found it more convenient to disregard God’s call to commitment than to remain in marriage with the “wife of their youth,” who now was old, or fat, or whatever.
Which brings us to a consideration of what was at the root of all these sins. Note verses 15 & 16 - “So guard yourself in your spirit.”
What led them to marry others outside their faith? To choose hypocrisy over holiness? To “trade in” their wives for a newer model? What’s at the root of all sin associated with choices that hurt us and others? Wrong choices that hurt us and others come from a lack of satisfaction with God’s provision, which results from a lack of investment in our relationship with God. Ruth Doormat explained it this way, “I didn’t mean to push Christ aside. It’s just that my need to feel loved by someone I could see and touch was so desperate . . .’”
Ruth hadn’t invested in her relationship with God, so she wasn’t satisfied with His provision, and looked in the wrong places to satisfy her needs. As a result, she made choices that hurt her and others. That is why the people in Malachi’s day made choices that hurt themselves and others and that’s why we make the same kind of choices today.
Conclusion: When our Savior walked upon this earth, He modeled for us how to live in communion with and dependence on the Father. Jesus found His satisfaction in His relationship with the Father, consequently, He could willingly reject everything this world had to offer and choose instead to do the Father’s will, which, by the way resulted in bringing the possibility of eternal blessing to you and me.
We have a daily choice. Will we follow the way of Christ or the way of this world? Will we invest in our relationship with God and develop satisfaction with Him God and His provisions? Or will we neglect our relationship with God, develop a dissatisfaction that leads us to look to the empty provisions of this world? One way bless us and others, the other brings difficulty to us and to others. Perhaps your choices have led to hurting yourself and others. You don’t have to continue down that road. Turn around. The Lord is still there and He still loves you.
“In the end, we were never intended to find our fulfillment in people, our circumstances, or ministries. We were intended to find fulfillment in God alone. There will always be disappointments and broken dreams. Thankfully, though, we can hold on to the truth in Hebrews 13:8 which says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He will never fail us. Even in the midst of our broken dreams, we can start over, serving God with a deep joy and passion. It’s often in the letting go, in the loss of our dreams, that we gain our heart’s deepest longing and treasure: Christ Himself.” - Shelly Esser in “Learning To Let Go”
