Audio Sermons

Building Up the Church of Christ:

For Better, for Worse

Life B-P Church Worship Service, 11^th August 2024

Text: Malachi 2:10-16 

• After the people of Israel were no longer oppressed by the Gentiles who lived around them, they settled into a peaceful co-existence with them.
• As the people drifted away from God, they began to marry pagan unbelievers from outside of Israel.

• History had shown that such marriages eventually bring severe consequences. (cf. Genesis 6:2-5; 1 Kings 11; 2 Chronicles 21-22)

• The people divorced their wives in order to marry unbelievers, and the divorced wives wept at the Temple to seek justice. (v.13)
• God rebuked them not only for being unfaithful to their wives but also for profaning His holiness by marrying unbelievers. (v.11)
• The main truth: God expects us to take marriage very seriously.
  To do this, we must apply four important steps:

1. Restrict Our Choice to God’s People, in Marriage (vv.10-11)

• We must choose to marry someone who is of the same faith and commitment to the Lord.
• Making the wrong choice does not affect us alone. Other believers are affected by the unholy union. (“…married the daughter of a strange god.” v.11)
• As believers, we share a common identity as God’s children. Hence, we cannot live for ourselves alone. (Cf. Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:26)

2. Remember to Fulfill God’s Purposes for Marriage (vv.14-15)

God instituted marriage to fulfil two main purposes:

• Companionship (“…yet is she thy companion” v.14, c.f. Genesis 2:18; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)

• Procreation (“…That He might seek a godly seed” v.15, c.f. Genesis 1:31)

3. Resolve to Keep Our Marriage Covenant (vv.14-16)

• Since God instituted marriage, He is concerned that couples should keep their marriage covenant. (cf. Proverbs 2:16-17)
• When couples marry, God is present as a witness. (v.14) He also joins them together as one. (Matthew 19:6)
• God deliberately made only one helpmeet for Adam. (“And did not He make one? Yet had He the residue of the spirit” v.15)

• Those who have more than one wife or have extra-marital affairs violate their marriage covenant and God’s plan for marriage.

• God’s plan for marriage is also violated by the world’s acceptance of repeated divorce and remarriage.
• God hates divorce. He endures it only because of the hardness of man’s heart. (“He hateth putting away” v.16; Mark 10:4,5)
• There are only two exceptions for divorce and remarriage:

⃝ One’s spouse has committed adultery. (Matthew 19:9)

⃝ One has been deserted by an unbelieving spouse. (1 Cor 7:15)

• To keep your marriage covenant, always be faithful to your spouse. (“Take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously” v.15,16; cf. Hebrews 13:4)

4. Rely on God’s Grace to Sustain Our Marriage

• The ‘covenant of our fathers’ that God has made with His people (v.10) is a covenant of grace.
• God’s grace was fully revealed through Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. (John 1:16,17)
• Hence, we need to keep growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. (2 Peter 3:18)
• His grace is sufficient for the needs of every believer. (2 Cor 12:9)

Questions for Reflection:

1. How can a Christian know whether he or she is ready for marriage?
2. What do you think makes couples choose divorce instead of reconciliation when they encounter problems in their marriage?