Faltering Because of Faithlessness
Notes
Transcript
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10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!
13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”
been a couple of weeks; catch up; book of Malachi is about disputations between God and Israel
1st: Israel did not think that God loved them; God tells them about Jacob and Esau and having chose Jacob, who was their ancestor
2nd: God tells Israel that they have despised his name; goes into the condition of the offerings but makes sure they know that the blame falls on the misguidance of the priests
now we are at the 3rd; the blame now shifts to the people
as we go through text, you will hear a word repeated quite often, Faithless
not an accusation that anyone wants to receive, much less coming from God
give illustration about seeing faithlessness(guy who keeps his wedding ring in glove compartment until he gets home)
Main Point - our private lives should reflect our public worship and devotion to God
not gonna dance around divorce here; very explicit towards divorce; the text is clear that God hates divorce and that he is using this analogy as a means of describing his relationship with Israel
But I know that there are many of us who have experienced or been affected by divorce. So I want to get this out of the way. First of all, there is no such thing as a time machine, so we cannot hop in one and go back and fix mistakes that have happened. If you have been divorced, it has happened and we look forward. Second of all, there are times when it is no longer honoring to God to stay in a destructive and harmful marriage. Abuse is not something to be tolerated. But, we will never endorse divorce as a way for people to get out of a relationship just because they are no longer interested or someone new has stepped into the picture. Even in the church, there is this acceptance of no fault divorce. This happens to the point where there are serial divorcers within the church.
We cannot stand for this. We will stand beside the abused and walk with them and help them get through a hard divorce. But we cannot continue to sweep this idea of divorce under the rug.
Now, with that being said, let’s get to our text. Within our text here, we see some relationships that I am going to point out. But it will all tie back into the theme of the passage which is faithlessness. So I want to pose a question to you.
Are you being faithless or are you being faithful?
Keep that question at the forefront of your mind as we go through the text. First God, speaking to Israel, points out mans relationship with God
The Relationship with God
The Relationship with God
Everyone has a relationship with God. It may not be a good relationship, but there is a relationship. It may be a hostile relationship, but it is a relationship. And God wants to point out this common relationship the people have with him.
10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
one father = Abraham; although the kingdom had been divide, although they had experienced the Babylonian exile, there was still commonality
the different tribes may not get along; but “have we not all one Father”;
all created by one God; the same God; (Jeremiah 1:5 “5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you); this is true for everyone; God is our creator
So then, if they all have the same father in Abraham, and they are all creations of God, then why are we treating each other so badly. This is tribalism. Treating other people badly because they are not in your circle. But, tribalism did not die in the middle east in the bible, it is alive and well today. The greatest divide we have pushed on us today is the political divide. We are continuously told that we must hitch ourselves to a certain party but, when we do, the other party becomes evil. I can promise you that the people on the other side of the aisle are no more sinful that you and I.
But, we also have a racial divide that is pushed as well. We have economic divides pushed on us. Brothers and sisters, the only divide that is going to matter in the end is believer and non-believer. There will be a day when we are truly divided. Some will go to heaven but many will go to Hell. And the only way to be on the right side of that divide is through repentance and faith in Jesus. (gospel presentation)
In our text, ultimately the divide comes down to their hearts. Who are you living for? Are you being faithful or faithless? That is the heart of the question that God poses to Israel.
11 Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
Judah has been faithless. How? They profaned the sanctuary of the Lord.
Recently, there was a church in Minnesota who had their service disrupted and ultimately ended because people came in and began causing chaos. They shouted and stormed in the aisles. They were screaming at children. The church members showed up that morning, walked into what we call the sanctuary, in preparation of worship to God. Yet, a group came in and disrupted it.
The people in Israel were disrupting what should be a place of worship. How? By marrying daughters of foreign gods. This wasn’t just one marriage, but the entire people. This wasn’t on the priesthood, this was on the people. They had hitched themselves to other gods.
The initial neglect, though, was their relationship with God. Often times, such a harsh straying away from God begins with little things, insignificant things. This is a stark warning for us, maybe more today than in our lifetimes, that we need to protect our relationship with God. Our focus should not be on political parties, but on God. It should not be on race, but on God. I know too many people who say that they are Christians but it is clear that their identity is more focused on whether they are a republican or a democrat instead of their identity being in Christ.
Take the warning for us here in scripture of a faithless relationship with God. The first relationship was their relationship with God. But along the same lines, as we are beginning to see, God points out their relationship with other gods.
The Relationship with Other Gods
The Relationship with Other Gods
This is a cycle for the people of Israel. As we have been going through the Old Testament both in Sunday school and our Wednesday night bible study, there is this theme of people abandoning worship of God(Yahweh) in favor of worship for false idols or false gods. The book is a warning. First by talking about Judah marrying the daughters of a foreign god.
Now, this is a national rebuke. But it is caused by individual decisions. This is a literal divorce and remarriage. The men of Judah were divorcing their jewish wives and marrying women from other cultures.
It is not as much talked about as it has been in years past, but there has been discussion about interracial marriages. Throughout the OT, we have seen times where people would inter-marry and other times when God would tell them not to do so. So, how should we view interracial marriages? First, know that God used interracial marriages. Just in the lineage of Jesus, we have Joseph in the book of Genesis who marries the daughter of an Egyptian priest. We have Ruth who is a Moabite marrying into the Israelites through Boaz. David’s wife who was the mother of Absalom was Syrian. And Moses married a Cushite woman which is in modern day Ethiopia. These marriages were not condemned by God.
So why is God so against interracial marriage in the book of Malachi? It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with religion. It isn’t about the skin, it is about the heart. 2 Corinthians 6:14 “14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?” We are warned of marrying outside of our faith. And our text today should be a grave warning what happens when we do. We are inviting in faithlessness.
Not only is God questioning this, he gives this almost curse upon them for doing it.
12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob any descendant of the man who does this, who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!
Growing up for me was difficult. Specifically the fact that I couldn’t go anywhere without someone seeing me that knew my parents. I can remember one time in particular when I came home, I was a senior in high school, and my dad asked me if there was anything I needed to tell him. First of all, that never ends well. And secondly, as I have grown as a father, I also know that I will say that sometimes just to get them to admit to something that I wasn’t fully sure of.
But one day, I decided to drive crazy. And someone saw me, word got back to my dad, and then we had that conversation. What I want to point out is that my father’s reputation carried on through me. People knew that my father wouldn’t stand for what I did so they let him know.
When we do things, we should not only be thinking of the consequences to ourselves and those around us, but also those after us. What if our sin today is the cause of what persecutes our grandchildren?
He is clear here with the Israelites that by protecting the family unit(believing father, believing mother, children being raised in the faith), that they are protecting worship. But the people had veered. They were bringing in the things of the world as priority over the things of God.
What might that look like today? I think the most obvious right now is politics. The Christian should never be driven by politics. Should we engage, when necessary, in politics? Absolutely. Don’t get me wrong, we cannot avoid it. There is such a crossover with faith and politics today. But, the political systems of this world are broken and failing.
God, however, is not failing. He is working and growing us in our faith. And, through the power of the Holy Spirit, do have the opportunity to engage in the world around us.
Trust me, if there was ever someone who wanted to sell everything, move to the wilderness, build a tiny cabin, live off grid, grow and hunt for my food, and never engage with anyone again, it is me. But that is not the life that God has laid out for us. That is why, when we do engage with our world, we must first ask ourselves if how we are engaging is how God would want us to.
We may not have golden calves or Baal’s around us that we are gravitating towards, but we do have other little gods that we could easily pursue. That is why churches are straying away because of their stance on marriage, abortion, politics, the sufficiency and inerrancy of scripture. We must make sure that what we say we believe and what we practice are lining up with God’s will and desire. That is why God addresses their relationship with other gods.
The Relationship with Others
The Relationship with Others
We pick up in verse 13
13 And this second thing you do. You cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.
So, the people have abandoned God by marrying themselves to other pagan cultures. But, on top of that, now they are crying about God not accepting their offering.
We have seen it, and maybe it was us, but the person at church who comes and sits down front, pays closer attention to the sermon that most, sings louder and knows all of the words to all of the songs. After the sermon, they come down to the altar, tears just a flowing. And we all think, “wow, God must really be working in their life”. Then, they get to work the next day, cuss out their boss, goes home and gets drunk and beats his wife, is cheating on their spouse, and then they come in the next Sunday and do the same thing.
I know, you may think that it sounds judgmental. But, there comes a point where those tears are just gator tears. Empty showing of cold inward emotion. Or, a good biblical definition is
13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me
That is what God is describing here about the people divorcing, not only themselves from him, but from their wives.
(read verse 14) So God does not accept their offering. Why?
14 But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
Most everyone has been to a wedding. Often times, at the beginning of the service, the pastor will say something along the lines of “dearly beloved, we are gathered here today in the presence of God to witness the joining of…”. This is to signify that the marriage is not just some legal contract.
For the believer, this is even more important because we should desire to do everything for God. So when 2 Christians comes together in marriage, they want to make sure that they are recognizing that they are not the only ones involved in this. God is at the center of it. For the men in Judah, they had left this completely. Their covenant with their wives had been broken.
15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.
They had divorced themselves so that they could pursue ungodly, faithless marriages. The spirit of God had been in their marriages and they had left it. Their chance for godly offspring was fleeting. The covenantal family unit had been disrupted. It is hard to raise godly children when the father isn’t being faithful. That is the center of this. Men had compromised and sought things other than God.
A lot of the problems that we have in our country and in our churches would end if men would just be godly men.
So, God gives a warning. Guard yourselves in your spirit. How can we do that today? You hear me say it all of the time but we must be in God’s word. The largest issues we face in the church today with people who come regularly could be done away with if we were engaged in God’s word regularly. Spending time reading and studying. Spending time meditating over God’s word and praying through God’s word. Taking God’s word and not only knowing it, but living it out.
But, that isn’t the only warning. Be faithful to your wives. Husbands, this is directly aimed at us. We must be the husbands and fathers that God desires us to be. Our lives are not our own. Not only are we indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but we are united to our wives. So let us be faithful. But this should also speak to the wives as well. Be the woman who makes it easy to be faithful to. Be a godly wife and a godly woman. Husbands and wives are meant to be united. Do not be at odds with each other.
Why is this important?
16 “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”
Being faithful in our marriage is a reflection of our faithfulness to God. It is not a coincidence that God continually uses the illustration of a marriage in regards to the churches relationship to God.
Guard yourselves and do not be faithless.
Conclusion
God’s word is speaking very loud and clear. It is important that how we act at church and how we act at home are both a reflection of us being faithful.
I am not sure where everyone is on this scale. But I want to be there to help you, especially you men. So if you are looking for ways to grow in this area, come and talk to me. Maybe we can get a group of guys together to hold each other accountable and grow in this area.
There are two main takes aways from this passage today and they are found in the last sentence of our text.
Guard yourselves in your spirit.
Do not be faithless.
I have given some examples of how we can do that. Take those with you and live them out this week.
