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Yoked With An Unbeliever
Bible Reference: 1 Cor. 7:12-16
Date: 06/28/2009
Introduction:
A. The greatest covenant you will ever make is the one between you and God the day you put on Jesus Christ and become a part of the family of God. That is greatest covenant you will make. In the day your faith leads you to repentance and in the humility of that repentance you call upon Jesus as Lord and are immersed in water for the remissions of your sins you made a covenant with God that would last rest of your life and then on into eternity. You died to self and rose up from the water a new creation, born again, and the angles in heaven rejoiced. There is no greater covenant than that.
B. But God created another covenant that many people decide to enter. It is the covenant of marriage. Much like the covenant you made with God, this covenant is done before God as your witness and when God joined you together, you vowed in that covenant to remain faithful to one another for so long as you both shall live. Like the covenant of faith that brought to Christ, the marriage covenant brings us into union with another person. The goal of this covenant of marriage is simple: Two people who are devoted in love to one another and help one another reach eternity with God in salvation. Like our Christian covenant, it lasts a lifetime, but only a lifetime. It is the greatest human union possible.
C. Therefore, God has exalted marriage to a place that nothing, apart from our union with him, can compare. It is the pinnacle of relationships. It is a blessing from God and great source of comfort and support in life. God sanctifies the marriage and the family and we should do nothing but support God’s union.
D. Marriage is under attack in some parts of society and in some legal venues. It is trying to be redefined by mankind in some places, but no matter what mankind calls a marriage or calls a divorce, it is God alone who unites a man and woman, and only through God can it be broken with his blessing.
E. During the month of June we have studied this important chapter of the Bible, being challenged by God to live faithfully unto death with our marriage partner, to accept the grace of being single and the glory that comes with it, and to become godly dads.
F. As we conclude the study of 1 Cor. 7, we will look at one more aspect that God, through Paul, deals with; when a Christian is married to non-Christian.
I. The Wrong Argument
A. Some have viewed Paul’s statement in verses 10 and 12 to be his personal opinion and not binding. I contend that such a teaching is false. Either God’s word is inspired by the Holy Spirit and is free for error by the writers of scripture, or it is not from God.
B. Paul is not giving you opinions. He answering questions directed by the church in Corinth through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Consider verses 10 and 11. Who are the married in verse 10? Either every person who is married or at a minimum, two Christians that are married. Paul is reminding the Christians of what Jesus taught during his earthly ministry. In that teaching, Jesus taught strongly that wife or a husband must not separate or divorce their spouse. Marriage is for life. A teaching forgotten by many today.
C. Now look at verse 12. Here Paul is giving a directive from God by the Holy Spirit that Jesus did not give to the Jews during his ministry. I conclude that vast majority of Jews only married Jews, for that was the teaching God gave them. Jesus was speaking to Jews in an equally yoked marriage spiritually.
D. But Jesus brought forth a new covenant between all men and God, not just the Jews. In this new covenant we do not claim a Hebrew name (Jew), but the name of Jesus (Christian). Now the bonds of marriage are no longer within a single race, but in a spiritual union. As the early church was very missional in nature, people from all walks of life became believers in Jesus, but that did not mean every household was united in their spiritual belief.
E. It is to that end, where one spouse is an unbeliever, that Paul gives a directive from God. That directive is much the same as the one already given by Jesus – stay married. Don’t use your religion as reason to separate or divorce. God will recognize the marriage of a Christian to an unbeliever and will call the children of that marriage “clean” or “holy.”
F. There is no question that when a married couple does not share the same spiritual goals it makes for a more difficult marriage. In part because one spouse does not hold the same values.
G. With marriage being difficult because of our sinful nature, it becomes much more difficult when you don’t have a spouse to help you deal with some of your own sinfulness as a helpmate to lead you closer to God instead of farther away from Him. The question, does God recognize a spiritually unequally yoked marriage? The answer is yes. As I said a couple of weeks ago, when entering into a marriage, a young person or a widow ought to seek the support of a Christian to be their spouse.
H. Some Christians struggle with their unbelieving spouse and the relationship they have in that marriage and desire to get out of it. They want to make sound spiritual and say “they just don’t share my depth of faith and love for God.” God, through Paul says, if that unbeliever is willing to stay with you, the you honor the marriage. It is where God has placed you and is using you.
II. The Unbeliever Wants Out
A. Your role as a Christian should be to help your unbelieving spouse come to know the love of Jesus and see that love in your devotion to Christ and your love for your spouse. Peter would teach women who are married to unbelievers this very same concept in 1 Pet. 3:1-6.
B. Paul next speaks to the Christian whose unbelieving spouse wants out of the marriage (1 Cor. 7:15). To this Christian, Paul says you stay, but if the unbeliever leaves there is nothing you can do. For many in the first century, an unbelieving man married to a Christian woman, would be difficult. Because he did not share her faith, he would not necessarily treat her in a godly manner. He might even seek of her to behave in an unchristian manner and think that because he is the head the house he can do as he pleases. When a person has to choose between God or their spouse, God wins every time. Jesus taught unless you love less then him your husband, wife, mother, father, brother, sister, children and self, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. God wins every time when you must choose. But the teaching is leave the divorce and separation up to the unbeliever, you as a Christian should not seek it or initiate it.
Conclusion:
A. Listen again to verse 16. The goal in every marriage is for the two people to get to heaven and to raise any children they may have in a way that leads them to Jesus Christ. That is goal. “The marriage bed is to be undefiled.” “What God has joined together do not let man separate.” “Husbands love your wife as Christ loves the church.” “Wives submit to your husbands as the church submits to Christ.” The teachings of marriage throughout the Bible all lead to a union of a man and woman striving to please the Lord. As they do, they strive to please their spouse, lift them up, honor them, respect them, and love them.
B. Maybe, just maybe, when your unbelieving spouse feels your depth of love they might begin to wonder why? Maybe, when that unbeliever is given grace and forgiveness, when they are lifted up and served, when they are see God in you, then they might also desire salvation. How do you know, O wife or husband, whether you will save your spouse. Maybe God is using you to lead a soul to Him. Is there a greater joy than watching the one you chose to enter into a life covenant with, also see enter in an eternal covenant with God? Bloom where you are planted.
C. The invitation is given this day, and it might be that God is prodding you to come forward, not because of sin, but because you need our prayers or because you desire to have your marriage prayed over by fellow Christians. If the Spirit is touching you today because you are convicted of sin, either in your marriage or outside of marriage, then listen to God’s calling, and come while we stand and sing.
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