We have been looking at how to renew our faith for the new year. We look forward to a new year in hope of having a better year. As we think about the upcoming year, we are looking at how we can have an improved, deeper faith for 2024 and we are looking at this through the lens of Malachi. Malachi records that the people are questioning God. They do not believe that God has shown his love toward them. They do not understand why they do not have the favor of the Lord. So God is explaining to the people the problems in their faith and what needs to change to have a righteous relationship with him. Please take your copies of God’s word and turn to Malachi 2:10 and we are going to consider the paragraph here.
To set up this section, we need to be reminded about the context of the discussion between God and his people. God has been explaining to the people that he is not receiving their worship. The people are bringing their sacrifices and offerings, but God would rather the temple doors be closed than for the people to continue in their worthless offerings. There are two problems that God observes that is going on among the people that makes their worship worthless. We will look at these two problems and consider what this looks like in our lives. Then we will consider God’s solution so that we can have the faith that God wants in his people.
Faithless To One Another (Malachi 2:10-12)
God begins this paragraph by asking two rhetorical questions. Do we not all have one Father? Has not one God created us? The answer to both of these questions is yes. We do have a shared Father making us brothers and sisters together. We have the same God who created each of us. So what is the point? Look at the rest of verse 10. “Why then are we faithless to one another, defiling the covenant?” Some translations ask why they are acting treacherously against each other. What I want us to notice that now God shifts their attention from how they were treating God and worshiping him to how they are treating each other. Why are you being faithless to one another? Why are you acting treacherously against each other?
This is a key point that God makes throughout the scriptures. God cares about how we treat each other. Jesus said in Matthew 5:22 that if we are angry with our brother or sister, then we will be subject to judgment. If we say a slanderous word against our brother or sister, then we will be subject to fiery hell. Then Jesus continues by saying that if you are bringing your gift to the altar for worship and realize that your brother or sister has something against you, you are to leave your gift and go be reconciled first and then come offer your gift (Matthew 5:23-24). Why is it so important to resolve relationship problems before coming to worship the Lord? The answer is that God cares about how we treat each other. We have one Father and we have been created by one God. So God cares about our relationships. Here in Malachi 2, God is asking how we can act faithlessly and treacherously toward each other. The apostle Paul said it this way:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:9-10 ESV)
We are defiling the covenant God made with us when we are faithless to each other. But then God starts giving some details about what is happening in verses 11-12. God says that the people have defiled the Lord’s sanctuary that he loves by marrying the daughter of a foreign god. Now why was this such a problem to the Lord and what does this have to do with his temple? When we remember the reason for God’s command to not marry the Canaanite women then it becomes clear what God was concerned about. Look at what God commanded in Deuteronomy 7 and why.
You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, or they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. (Deuteronomy 7:3-4 ESV)
The problem is turning the people’s hearts away from the Lord. So the very problem has come to pass. The people do not have a heart for God and for his worship at the temple. Rather, the people have a heart for idolatry.
Faithless To Your Spouse (2:13-16)
This brings us to the second problem that was going on that God cared about. Notice in verse 13 that the people seem to come to the altar in tears because the Lord is not accepting their offerings. But in verse 14 they ask why God is not accepting their worship. God answers that he is not receiving their worship because the men have been faithless to their wives. Now I want us to hear this. God said that he is not receiving their worship because of what is going on in their marriages. You seem upset that god does not accept your offerings. But you do not understand why your worship is rejected.
Now it is important to listen to how God describes the marriage relationship in verse 14. God says that he has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. Friends, marriage is not haphazard. Jesus said something very important to remember about marriage in Matthew 19:6.
So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate. (Matthew 19:6 CSB)
God joins two people together. God is in the act of marriage and joining the marriage covenant. God says that he was a witness to you and to the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her even though she is your companion. In essence, you are joined together. She is your companion. She is your partner. Not only this, she is your wife by covenant. You made vows. You made a covenant and the Lord was witness to this covenant. Now it is important to underscore the point of God being a witness to the marriage covenant. This does not merely mean that God was there when you made your covenant. In the scriptures a witness to the covenant meant that this person was the enforcer of the covenant. The witness made sure that the terms of the covenant were kept. God is the witness and enforcer of the marriage covenant. You have been unfaithful to the wife of your youth, even though she is your permanent partner, your wife by covenant.
Friends, there is a lot of unfaithfulness happening in our world. Here are some stats from 2023 and you can search the internet for these stats as they are on many websites. Approximately 25% of married men and 15% of married women have had affairs. That is about 1 in every 4 married men and about 1 in every 7 married women. 60% cite infidelity as the reason for the divorce. 24% cite domestic abuse as the reason for divorce. In just these two numbers, 84% of divorces are due to sinful behavior. Unfortunately, the church is not excluded from these statistics. Approximately 40-50% of first marriages end in divorce. 33% of those first marriages end in the first 10 years. So that you do not think you will do better next time around, 67% of second marriages end in divorce and 73% of third marriages end in divorce. So we should feel the weight of God’s words in verse 16.
“For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of armies. (Malachi 2:16 NASB2020)
The ESV, NIV, and CSB read that the man who divorces his wife hates his wife. This appears to require an amending to the Hebrew. So I think the reading should stay with the declaration that God hates divorce, which the majority of translations maintain. But either way, the point is very clear. God hates divorce. Divorce is to hate the other person and to cover yourself with violence. We need to hear these words. Divorce is a very big issue with God. God calls divorce committing violence against your spouse.
Friends, marriage is a covenant. Marriage is to be permanent, just as Jesus said in Matthew 19:6. We are being faithless when we look to end our marriage. We are committing violence and treachery against our spouse when we look to end our marriage. The reason goes back to the beginning of our study. How we treat each other matters to God. How we treat each other in marriage matters to God. The apostle Peter made this point as well.
Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered. (1 Peter 3:7 ESV)
Peter says that God is not listening to us if we do not act righteously in our marriages. To the husbands, Peter says that God is not listening to you if you do not live with your wife in an understanding way, showing honor to her. If not honoring our wives means that God is not listening to our prayers, then imagine what is happening to our relationship with God when we are faithless, act treacherously, or divorce our wives? We do not have to imagine. God says he hates this and that we are covering ourselves with violence. We are severing our relationship with God when we sever our marriage covenant.
Fresh Faith
So what does God want us to do and what does he want us to understand so that we can stay faithful to the Lord and keep our relationship with him? We will spend our time in verse 15 as we conclude by applying this lesson. First, in verse 15 God says that he made us one. This unity is a key theme to this paragraph. We are to treat one another well because we have one Father and we have been created by one God. We are united together and need to maintain unity because we have one Father. In the same way, God made us to be one in marriage. Genesis 2:24 says that in marriage the man and the woman are becoming one. God is making us one. In short, we need to work for unity. We need to work for unity in our marriages. We need to work for unity as the people of God together as the church. Unity is so important that the first thing the apostle Paul expresses about walking in a manner worthy of the calling is to teach us to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (cf. Ephesians 4:1-6). We need to actively and deliberately think about how we can work together for unity as one body as the church and as one flesh in marriage. How we treat each other matters to God and he expects us to be united together in love and in hope. What can you do differently in the body of Christ to make it flourish and grow in unity so that your relationship with God can flourish?
Second, God says in verse 15 of Malachi 2 that we need to guard our spirits. The threat of unfaithfulness is very real. We need to guard ourselves to keep ourselves from the threat of affairs, unfaithfulness, and divorce. Marriage is going to have struggles. Two sinful people are joining their lives together as one. So there needs to be a lot of grace and forgiveness as we live together in this covenant relationship. Instead of giving up on our marriage partner, we need to rekindle the love in that covenant. You made a vow and God is your enforcing witness that you said you would not give up but would stay together. Guard your heart by not looking outside of your marriage covenant. Do not let yourself look outside your marriage. Guard your heart by looking to your marriage companion. What can you do differently in your marriage to protect it and make it flourish so that your relationship with God can continue to flourish? God hates divorce. What will you do to safeguard your marriage?