Missionary Dating...

This summer as a church we have been involved in a sermon series looking at a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Malachi. This week I would like to look at a section of this Old Testament letter where Malachi accuses the Jewish people of taking another detour when it came to their relationship with God. And it is in the prophet’s accusation and the evidence that he presents we will see God reveal for us a timeless detour that can get us off track when it comes to our relationship with God and can result in us living a life that dishonors God. So let’s look together as Malachi makes his accusation, beginning in Malachi 2:10:

"Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? "Judah has dealt treacherously, and an 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.

Malachi begins his accusation of the Jewish people with a rhetorical question: Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? These questions, if asked in the language we use in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Are we as Jewish people not created by God to live in a special relationship with God as His chosen people and children? Shouldn’t we be united and faithful in our love for one another as brothers and sisters as a result of the relationship that we have with God as our Creator and Heavenly Father?”

There was no need for Malachi to provide the answer to the question, because the answer was obvious. As part of the family of God that has been loved and rescued by their Heavenly Father, they should show their love for their Heavenly Father by being loving and faithful to one another.

Malachi then, like any good prosecuting attorney, presents his accusation against the Jewish people in the form of a question: Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? What is so interesting here is that the word treacherously, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to deal with someone in an unfaithful or untrustworthy manner.

And it was this unfaithful and untrustworthy behavior that the Jewish people were displaying with one another that resulted in the Jewish people profaning the covenant of our fathers. In other words, the Jewish people’s unfaithful and untrustworthy behavior with one another was polluting and robbing the significance and worth of the covenant relationship that the Jewish people had with God. Their unfaithfulness to one another was revealing their unfaithfulness to God.

In verse 11, Malachi explains that the unfaithfulness of the Jewish people was morally detestable and was polluting the Holy and sacred relationship that the Jewish people had with God. Malachi then reveals the specific acts of unfaithfulness that the Jewish people were involved in. The Jewish people were polluting and robbing the significance and worth of their covenant relationship with God by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.

You see, when God rescued the Jewish people from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt and entered into a covenant relationship with them, a part of that covenant relationship was that they were not to enter into a marriage relationship with any of the cultures and nations around them that worshipped false gods. We see God provide this command and the reason behind the command in Deuteronomy 7:3-4:

"Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons.”For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.

However, the Jewish people, throughout their history, failed to follow God’s command. And once again, even after being conquered and taken to captivity as a result of their selfishness and rebellion, even after God extended grace to bring them back to Israel, the Jewish people were once again selfishly rebelling and rejecting God’s command by marrying those who did not believe or follow God. The Jewish people were violating their covenant relationship with God by entering into covenant relationships with those who rejected God.

Now you might be thinking, “Why is God making such a big deal here? I mean Dave, if I am a follower of Jesus, does it really matter if I date or marry someone that is not a follower of Jesus?” If those questions are running through your mind, I just wanted to let you know that they are great questions to be asking. So let’s take a minute to answer those questions together.

Throughout the pages of the Bible, in both the New and the Old Testament, we see God clearly communicate that marriage relationships should only be entered into by individuals who agree on a common set of spiritual beliefs. In church mumbo jumbo talk, we refer to this as being “equally yoked”. In the Jewish culture in which the bible was written, a yoke was an instrument that was used to connect animals together in order to plow a field or pull a cart. For example, if you were plowing a field, you would want to dig straight furrows in the field in order to plant a crop.

Now imagine what would happen in you put a horse on one side of a yoke and a goat on the other side of a yoke. Would you get a straight line? No, the larger horse would end up pulling the goat in their direction. So a horse and a goat would be unequally yoked; they would not move in the same direction. For the animals to be effective they needed to be equally yoked; they needed to be the same type of animal that was in the same physical condition for them to move in the same direction and be effective.

That is the word picture that the phrase “equally yoked” was designed to communicate when it came to marriage relationships. For a marriage relationship to move in the same direction and be effective, both husband and wife should be in the same spiritual condition and share the same beliefs and world-view when it comes to God and spirituality.

So, if you do not buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing, the Bible teaches that you should not date or marry a person who is a follower of Jesus. Instead you should date and marry another person who does not buy the whole Jesus, Bible, church thing. If you are a follower of Jesus, you should not date or marry a person who is not a follower of Jesus. Instead, you should marry a person who shares your set of beliefs and is in a similar spiritual condition when it comes to their relationship with Jesus.

Now if you find yourself pushing back to what I am saying, here is a question to consider: If you do not share the same spiritual beliefs or are in a similar spiritual condition, what are you going to agree on? Are you going to agree on how you should handle money? How to raise your kids? To attend church and, if so, what church? If you do not agree on spiritual issues, what are you going to agree on?

And because you do not agree, you will either go to war every time a significant issue is brought up, because almost every decision involves a spiritual component, or one or the other of you are going to be pulled in a different direction.

And, if you do not go to war, do you know which direction you are going to be pulled? You are going to be pulled away from God, aren’t you? Because that is what has happened throughout history; and that was exactly what was happening to the Jewish people in Malachi’s day. The Jewish people in Malachi’s day were being pulled away from God and pulled to the worship of false gods as a result of their marriage relationships to those who did not believe in God. The Jewish people were violating their covenant relationship with God by entering into covenant relationships with those who rejected God.

Tomorrow, we will see Malachi reveal God’s response to the unfaithfulness of the Jewish people…