I was never there the day that
she said these words, but there is no dispute, my Grandmother would have said
these words. She would have spoken them years before World War Two. She did
speak them in love and in meaning. And she stood by them:
I, Mary Gladys Wilton,
take you, William David Beals to be my husband,
to have and to hold from this day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
till death us do part,
according to God’s holy law.
In the presence of God I make this vow.
I know that these were her words
due to her strong Anglican faith. Grandad, Bill Beals, became an Anglican in
order to marry Gran. They would have two children before he went off to war in
Europe; he was both recognised for distinguished services and injured. The
turmoil of the war was real for him, but in amongst his worst times, he would
send postcards back home speaking of his deep love and his longing to have Mary
back in his arms. As soon as he did, two more children were born, the youngest
being my Dad William Jeffery Beals.
Grandad carried a Gideon’s Bible
throughout the war and also came back a stronger Christian. Gran and Grandad
stuck by their vows – war did not part them; just as they promised, it was
death that parted them in the 1980s when Grandad passed.
Marriage is a covenant
relationship between two people. Being a covenant relationship, even in
Biblical times, means and meant it is a legally binding relationship. Being a
covenant relationship means that there are promises by both parties. Being a
legally binding relationship, a covenant relationship also comes with
consequences should one party fail to engage in their obligations. Being a
covenant relationship, such a relationship comes with expectations of
faithfulness, loyalty and commitment.
The relationship between Israel
and God was a covenant relationship. In Exodus 23, we see Israel entering into
the “I do” moment. The ceremony is given to us completely.
When Moses went and told the
people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice,
"Everything the LORD has said we will do." Moses then wrote down
everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an
altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing
the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered
burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD.
Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he
splashed against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it
to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said;
we will obey." Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and
said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you
in accordance with all these words."
(Exo 24:3-8)
God’s promise to the nation of Israel
was clear:
Now if you obey me fully and keep
my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.
Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a
holy nation. (Exo 19:5-6)
When Israel entered into a
covenant with God, a marriage with God, they committed themselves to living the
way God had instructed them. The blessings of this Covenant were real;
Deuteronomy 28 confirms these blessings. But the consequences were also real
should Israel choose not to follow their part of the deal. Covenant first and
foremost is about relationship – both parties have to work. And being a
covenant relationship, God promised to be faithful to Israel, should Israel be
faithful, loyal and committed to God.
Those of us who are married, will
also confirm that when one party feels that the loyalty and commitment to the
marriage is one way, then it can lead to arguments which, at times, exposes the
truth about just who is committed, who is faithful and who is truly loyal.
And Malachi is very much just
that – an argument between the two covenant parties – God, the father, and his
people, Israel the nation. It goes backwards and forwards six times. Each time
God makes a statement, I have loved you, but you despise me, you have turned
against me and your wives and so on. Each time, Israel argues back often with
an accusatory ‘how’ and then God comes in with the punchline truth which knocks
Israel to its knees.
We are up to the third argument.
The one that is centred on the relationship between Israel and God – the
covenant relationship
Do we not all have one Father? Did
not one God create us?
Why do we profane the covenant of
our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
Judah has been unfaithful. A
detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has
desecrated the sanctuary the LORD loves by marrying women who worship a foreign
god.
As for the man who does this,
whoever he may be, may the LORD remove him from the tents of Jacob—even though
he brings an offering to the LORD Almighty.
Another thing you do: You flood
the LORD's altar with tears. You weep and wail because he no longer looks with
favor on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.
You ask, "Why?"
It is because the LORD is the witness between
you and the wife of your youth. You have been unfaithful to her, though she is
your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.
Has not the one God made you?
You belong to him in body and
spirit.
And what does the one God seek?
Godly offspring.
So be on your guard, and do not be
unfaithful to the wife of your youth. "The man who hates and divorces his
wife," says the LORD, the God of Israel, "does violence to the one he
should protect," says the LORD Almighty.
So be on your guard, and do not be
unfaithful. (Mal 2:10-16)
Malachi 2:10-16 really comes down to the crutch of the argument. In this covenant relationship, just who is living up to their commitments. The reality is Israel isn’t. They are being disloyal on three fronts:
They are being disloyal to their God
They are being disloyal to each other
They are being disloyal to their wives.
This is disloyalty on all levels
– spiritually, socially, and personally. Three levels of relationship and on
each level, there is nothing but disloyalty. And this is deep. We are not just
talking one covenant. The reality is, God had been entering into covenants of
promise since Adam and Eve. The first documented covenant was with Noah, the
second with Abraham, the next with Moses and another with David. Each covenant
built upon the previous, bringing more life to it.
And God is saying to his people –
you have been disloyal to all the promises your ancestors entered into and in
this you have been disloyal each other and disloyal to me. The reality was, the
people of Judah, the people who had returned from exile had entered into
marriages outside of Israel. God was not calling them to an ethnic purity, but
to a spiritual one. We see time and time again in the Bible though the books of
Judges, Samual and Kings, that every time the people of Israel married into the
religions of the world, they would be swayed by those religions.
And it is easy to see why, it is
even evident today in the covenant of the cross, the God of Israel, the God of
the Christians, is not a lukewarm God. The blessings that come with this God,
come at a cost. The Gods of the nations that surrounded Israel were Gods that
promised power and wealth.
Today, we are surrounded by the
secular Gods of money, power and success. To marry into this while following a
God that actually requires sacrifice – love first your God and love your
neighbour as yourself can come across to others as a very weak God especially
as the blessings associated with our God are not blessings of wealth and power.
Blessings of success, yes, but every fifty years, there would be a reset – no
one would ever find themselves in a position in which they could lord it over
others.
This disloyalty, Malachi shows,
went deep, not only was it a disloyalty of God and others. This disloyalty ran
deep – it ran into the households of Israel – men were being disloyal to their wives.
A marriage is real – it is a
covenant that mirrors the covenant of God’s relationship with Israel. If you
ever want to see the reality of covenant, relationship, faithfulness and
loyalty, it is in a marriage.
The vows of a marriage are sacred
and meaningful. I started this sermon with the traditional vows my Grandmother
gave in an Anglican church to my Grandfather.
I, Mary Gladys Wilton,
take you, William David Beals to be my husband,
to have and to hold from this day forward;
for better, for worse,
for richer, for poorer,
in sickness and in health,
to love and to cherish,
till death us do part,
according to God’s holy law.
In the presence of God I make this vow.
According to the Anglican Church, these vows represent the following aspects of covenant relationship:
1. They offer timeless guidance through life’s biggest shift. They give a snapshot into a deep enduring commitment that can feel so overwhelming in the moment.
2. Their simplicity speaks louder than over-explaining. They get to the point.
3. They root the ceremony is in a shared faith. You can’t speak these words without standing in the same faith.
4. They remind couples what commitment really means. No matter what happens, I commit to you; and
5. They resonate across generations. Even when personalised, we commit to these promises.
So, God through Malachi is able
to actively push the point – you have not lived up to your part of the deal.
You want all the blessing but what have you given in return. I have lived up to
my promise. I have loved you, but you have doubted and despised my love. I have
lived up to my promise and saved you when the going got rough, and what did you
give me in return, you have given me a wonky box of sacrifices – all the things
that you wouldn’t even give to the beggars on the street. I have been faithful
to you, but you have been disloyal to me, your neighbours and even your wives.
It is hard-hitting. Thank God we
have a new covenant. A covenant that replaces the ones of old, a covenant of
grace and mercy. A covenant won at the cross.
Thank God, this makes living so
much more easier because God’s grace and mercy are always at the door; all we
have to do to enter into a covenant with Jesus is to confess his name and ask
for forgiveness.
If Malachi was here today, he
would be so pleased to see truly covenant people. Wouldn’t he?
Sorry church, if Malachi was here
today, his message may change but the principles would still be there. We have
entered into a covenant relationship. Like the covenants of old, this new
covenant builds on those of the ancestors of Israel. Actually, it doesn’t just
build upon them, it fulfils them and gives them substance and life.
He would remind us that such a
relationship, is two-way first and then overflows to our relationships with
each other and in our families.
He would point out that there is
real evidence that we are completely unfaithful to God everyday we leave the
church doors and blend into the world around us. The world is right when it
points out to hypocrisy:
The greatest
single cause of atheism in the world today
Is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips
Then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.
That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable. (Brennan Manning)
He would point out that the
Covenant of the cross is based on a concept of forgiveness:
For if you
forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not
forgive your sins. (Mat 6:14-15)
But within churches, even our
own, the festering sin of unforgiveness is real. The reality is, if you do not
forgive, or if you sort of forgive but not really forgive, or if you pretty
much forgive, but refuse to seek restoration, or if you forgive with conditions
– your Father will not forgive your sins.
It’s as simple as that.
I also think Malachi will point
out God’s despair at the watering down of the gospel. We have sold the world a
religion of promise and prosperity, we have sold Jesus as a self-help therapy
tool. We have watered Jesus and the gospel down.
While the message of the cross is
good news and brings blessing. The message of the cross is one of repentance
and a call to deeply know and be in relationship with God. When we are in right
relationship with God, we can then be in right relationship with each-other.
And then I hear Malachi
whispering in my ear: tell them about Paul, tell them what to look for. You
see, the message of Malachi was for a community, a community that relationship
of unfaithfulness and disloyalty manifested from God, down to each other and
into each home. Israel had become corrupt there were no right relationship.
Fiona, tell them about Paul, tell
them what to look for. Tell them there is something to work for – tell them.
Okay Malachi.
The acts of the
flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and
witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition,
dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you,
as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of
God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there
is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its
passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the
Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Gal
5:19-26)
Paul is echoing Malachi – to live
in wrong relationship with God, each other and our own families is to live in
hatred, discord, jealousy, envy. But to live in right relationship is to push
into Christ in our covenant relationship and strive, yes strive, because our
salvation has to be worked out – we have to walk each day closer to Christ. We
are to strive to have within our relationship with God, each other and in our
own homes – love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and
self-control.
Church, my challenge, to each of
us is to strive to encourage each other to be fruitful in our spiritual walk
with each other.
Church, let us be loyal, let us
be committed, let us be faithful to God, to each other and to our families.
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