Introduction:
According to Dr. Lana Staneli, author of a book on marital triangles, “Of those who break up their marriage to marry someone else, eighty percent are sorry later. Of those who do marry their lover, which is only about ten percent, about seventy percent of them get a divorce. Of that twenty-five to thirty percent that stay married, only half of them are happy. Having an affair is an invitation to an awful lot of pain and tragedy.”
Laura Schlessinger, The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God’s Laws in Everyday Life (New York: HarperCollins, 1998), 223-224.
The Main Point: Since Christ is your Father, you must be faithful in your familial relationships.
The theme: Christ loves with unchanging love; therefore, respond to Him with reverence (respect, honor, esteem, worship, venerate, exalt).
Give attention to His message, His messenger and His method (using His pattern of ministry).
How has God loved you? He elected you and He keeps you from being consumed.
How have we despised His name? Through actions that thwart His universal plan (making His name great among the nations) and through actions that violate His character (acting out of divine character). It is practicing irreverence through corrupt worship (cheap and heartless).
Who is to blame? First, His ministers who fail to honor His name. They receive a curse and must change their ways, to obey and reverence Him as they instruct His people. Secondly, the people are to blame.
Why does God reject offerings?
I. People profane their covenant with God. v. 10-12
A. By dealing treacherously with family members (10).
Job 31:15 "Did not He who made me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?
1Co 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
Eph 4:6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
1. Treacherous against your brother
2. Those who have been set apart to God
B. By dealing treacherously with God’s sanctuary (11).
Ezra (457 B.C.), Nehemiah (445 B.C.), Hosea (780 B.C.)
Hos 6:7 But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant; There they have dealt treacherously against Me.
1. It is an abomination to marry a non-believer.
2. It is spiritual adultery (infidelity)
1Co 6:15-16 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! 16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, "THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH."
C. By dealing treacherously one incites God’s judgment (12)
Incite-Spark, prompt, provoke, encourage
1. God will cut him off (utterly destroy).
2. His family will be cut off.
Those who entered mixed marriages would be cut off. BBC
ILLUSTRATION
Christians living with unsaved… Christians marrying the unsaved…
Just as God judged these Israelites, He will also judge us.
Application:
Now what? Be faithful to the Lord! Don’t chase after those that would cause you to be defiled! Protect yourself….
Pro 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.
• Keep your heart above all keeping
The mind is the fountain from which the actions spring. If the fountain is pure, the stream that flows from it will be pure. As a man thinks, so is he. BBC
Why does God reject offerings?
Transitional Statement: First, people profane their covenant with God; secondly, people profane their marital covenants.
II. People profane their marital covenants. v. 13-16
ILLUSTRATION
On November 26, 1977 I made a vow with Jan to love and cherish her until death do us part. Honor the Lord by honoring your vows.
The marriage relationship is a sacred institution in the eyes of God.
A. Marriage is a covenant (13-15a; Prv. 2:16-18)
1. God witnesses your marriage covenant (14).
2. Covenant breaking brings serious consequences.
3. Marriage is intended to breed a godly offspring (15a).
1Ti 5:14 I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house…
B. Divorce is a hated violent act (15b-16).
Shaunti Feldhahn is a Harvard-trained social researcher, popular speaker, and best-selling author of For Women Only. She writes, "Highly happy couples tend to put God at the center of their marriage and focus on Him, rather than on their marriage or spouse, for fulfillment and happiness" (pg. 178, Highly Happy Marriages).
Dr. Wilcox finds that "active conservative Protestants" who attend church regularly are actually 35% less likely to divorce than those who have no religious preferences.
"Nominal" Christians, however, those who simply call themselves Christians but so not actively engage with the faith, are actually 20% more likely than the general population to get divorced.
1. It is violence that God hates (16a).
Mal 2:16 "For I hate divorce," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "and him who covers his garment with wrong," says the LORD of hosts.
2. It leads to violence committed through unlawful marriages.
C. Marriage covenants are to be lifelong (15b, 16b).
1. Keep your heart fixed on the Lord (1 Tim. 4:10).
Fixed: 1) firmly attached (unmovable, anchored, rooted)
2) established (settled, unchangeable, steady, firm)
Jos 23:11 "So take diligent heed to yourselves to love the LORD your God.
Mar 12:30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'
2. Keep your heart fixed on your spouse (16b).
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
Pro 6:25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, Nor let her capture you with her eyelids.
Pro 6:33 Wounds and disgrace he will find, And his reproach will not be blotted out.
1Th 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Conclusion:
The Gospel empowers the Christian to be faithful (marital fidelity)!
In her book, The Good News About Marriage, Feldhahn lays out what she found during her eight years of investigating the complicated, complex divorce statistics. Feldhahn estimates the overall divorce rate for the country is around 31 percent. The studies of people who regularly go to church all show a much lower divorce rate for them.
10 basic principles I've learned in over 25 years of marriage that may be helpful to consider:
1. You need Jesus.
2. Marriage is worth the investment.
3. You have to invest in a marriage for it to be worth the investment.
4. Choosing your marriage partner is the most important human decision you will ever make.
5. Most fights are over stupid things that don't matter.
6. Most arguments are resolved when both people are more concerned with being in a relationship than with being right.
7. Sex is essential to a marriage relationship.
8. Practices (like date nights, long conversations, and trips together) make your marriage stronger.
9. Kids are awesome, but stress your marriage.
10. Never go to bed angry.
