The Seriousness of Marriage

• Happiness is the result of Marriage, not the purpose
• Once we make happiness the purpose, Satan has you because he knows how to make you unhappy.
• What happens when marriage life falls short of the “happily ever after”? – the results often range from disappointment to divorce.
• Malachi 2:10-17 – Taking the things of God Seriously not just casually; Ink pen we may take as something casual because someone next to you will have one that you may use. Unless you are like Bro. Ken Anderson collects different types of ink pens.

Malachi 2:1 & 2 (Living Bible) –

Listen, you priests, to this warning from the Lord Almighty:

“If you don’t change your ways and give glory to my name, then I will send terrible punishment upon you, and instead of giving you blessings as I would like to, I will turn on you with curses. Indeed, I have cursed you already because you haven’t taken seriously the things that are most important to me.

• (Unity of God at the beginning of this text)

Malachi 2:10 – ¹⁰ We are children of the same father, Abraham, all created by the same God. And yet we are faithless to each other, violating the covenant of our fathers!

• Malachi 2:11- In Judah, in Israel, and in Jerusalem, there is treachery, for the men of Judah have defiled God’s holy and beloved Temple by marrying heathen women who worship idols. – Men divorcing their wives and marrying women of another religion. (Beliefs were different)
• Profaning the sanctuary of the Lord – Devoted to secular things and not to biblical truths.
• A guy saw a petty lady in Walmart in Charlotte, he makes the statement where are you head from here. She states home toward Concord, NC, which is north of charlotte; he states ok, I’m heading to Gaffney, SC, which is south of Charlotte – we can trail each other. ANSWERS: They cannot because they are going in different directions.
• To the singles –II Corinthians 6:14(KJV) says, “Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers. . .” It doesn’t say relationships, it doesn’t say marriage, but its implication is that of any relationship with another person. A relationship with another person could be a marriage. the reason why the bible states that a Christian should not marry a non-Christian is that there is a spiritual conflict. There is a conflict of God’s.
• Marriage can be difficult enough with serving the same God. – you have two people with different personalities, different views, different ways of being reared by their parents; Now they are becoming as one.
• BE NOT UNEQUALLY YOKED – CAN WE TAKE THAT IS FOR ALL RELATIONSHIPS…FRIENDSHIPS AND MARRIAGE
• Contract: a written or spoken agreement, especially one concerning employment, sales, or tenancy, that is intended to be enforceable by law.
• Covenant: Within the gospel, a covenant means a sacred agreement or mutual promise between God and a person or a group of people. In making a covenant, God promises a blessing for obedience to particular commandments.
• The issue was in the verses of scripture is….God had stop answering there prayers ??????
• Malachi 2:12 (Living Bible) – ¹² May the Lord cut off from his covenant every last man, whether priest or layman, who has done this thing!
• Malachi 2:13 (Living Bible) – ¹³ Yet you cover the altar with your tears because the Lord doesn’t pay attention to your offerings anymore, and you receive no blessing from him.
• We need to know that God takes his covenant seriously – Covenant is a spiritually binding relationship between God and his people. God can only operate by the rules of his covenant.
• Malachi 2:15(Living Bible) – ¹⁵ You were united to your wife by the Lord. In God’s wise plan, when you married, the two of you became one person in his sight. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. Therefore, guard your passions! Keep faith with the wife of your youth.
• A covenant/marriage is not designed to make you happy; Many people get married to become happy, Happiness is the result not the purpose of a covenant/marriage. Once you make happiness the purpose of getting married; when you become unhappy, this will cause you to trade that car in.
• I once heard someone say that they were looking for the ideal, it became an ordeal, now they are looking for a new deal.
• The purpose of God’s covenant is to expand his kingdom. In Genesis 1:26-28
• Key of Malachi 2:15 – Godly children from your union. Not to have children just so you have some look-a-like. He wants you to have godly seeds to spring up and continue spreading the Gospel. Happiness comes at the covenant being fulfilled. Happy is not a strong enough anchor to hold the covenant at which this purpose was established.
• Father, son, holy spirit – (example)- separate but working together unified covenant
• The covenant that we read about in the bible is Transcendent-Over seen by God
• Matthew 19:6 (Living Bible)- ^5-6 and that a man should leave his father and mother, and be forever united to his wife. The two shall become one—no longer two, but one! And no man may divorce what God has joined together.”
• Funny translation of this scripture – How do you come to me to marry you, but turn to a judge when you are wanting a divorce?
• All covenants have an order/chain of command – I Corinthians 11:3 – ³ But there is one matter I want to remind you about: that a wife is responsible to her husband, her husband is responsible to Christ, and Christ is responsible to God.
• Once we start tweaking and making the covenant to fit our views, the covenant begins to lose its effectiveness.
• Two rules are love and respect: Man is to love, and the woman is to hold the man in high esteem. He is to massage her heart and she is to massage his head. (Ephesians 5:21-33) – holding each other in high esteem.
• Love-
• Respect
• Love and Respect: I would humbly suggest that we all give examples here:
• *How does the love of a husband for his wife look like?*- Eph 5:33
• *How does respect for a wife for her husband look like?*
• *How does mutual submission, one to another out of reverence for Christ look like? Ephesians 5:21)*
• Submission means to “line up underneath- an act of will -we must choose to submit. I heard someone use the example of a stop vs yield sign. Stop sign means stop, period, no question asked-you have a choice with a yield sign. Your choice may carry consequences. If you decide to try and beat the oncoming car and decide to shoot thru the intersection instead of yielding; You may or may not judge the distance correctly.

Submitting by respecting (hold in high esteem) him – Reverence. (I Peter 3:1-2)

3 Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, 2 when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

• Is this saying, in general, the wife should have a godly attitude-that which can draw an unbelieving husband to Christ? Should we continually criticize, preach to him, or always have the verse of scripture that we think he needs to work on, penned to his pillow. We should not browbeat or manipulate him – even if we think we have a valid point.
• Submitting as equals – Submission has to do with function. Men and women are equal in God’s eyes. Submission does not mean passive. Proverbs 31:10-31 was not passive nor mindless. But in terms of her marriage, her skills were used to enhance her husband.
• We both discuss the issue at hand, both should have equal input, but to make the final decision the wife has the yield sign.

• If the enemy can disunify you, then he will do his best to keep God away from you. Your focus will be on the problem and not the solution, which is God our Father, the covenant maker.
• This is how little fuzzes can become Huge Fights.
• I Peter 3:7 (Living bible) – ⁷ You husbands must be careful of your wives, being thoughtful of their needs and honoring them as the weaker sex. Remember that you and your wife are partners in receiving God’s blessings, and if you don’t treat her as you should, your prayers will not get ready answers.
• Covenant is meant to be multi-generational – Godly offspring – Why do you think we dedicate babies – the enemy wants to split families to get the children. And to get the kids he must do his best to mess up mom and dad. Again, your focus will be on the problem and not the solution, which is God our Father, the covenant maker.
• Malachi 2:15(NASB) – ^15 [r]But not one has done sowho has a remnant of the Spirit. And ^[s]why the one? He was seeking a godly offspring. Be careful then about your spirit and see that none of you deals treacherously against the wife of your youth.
• Remnant of the Spirit -?
• Christian relationships: 1. Visual – 2. Soul – 3. Spiritual (need meaning from the host)
• Malachi 2:16 – ¹⁶ For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away: for one covereth violence with his garment, saith the Lord of hosts: therefore, take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously.
• Matthew 19:3-7
• Many divorces occur because the two never become one. When the two become one they produce something new. The goal of marriage is commonality. It does not matter how much church you attend as long as you stay two you are not adhering to the covenant.

Matthew 19:7- ⁷ They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

⁸ He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning, it was not so.

• I Corinthians 7 – Abandonment – 1. Physically leaving or 2. vacating his role-no longer a protector, no longer a provider.
• God will begin to restore the church by restoring families.