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For the Honor of God
04/24/05
While Israel was staying in
Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women...Then
an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes
of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the
entrance to the Tent of Meeting. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron,
the priest, saw this, he took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite
into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them-through the Israelite and
into the woman's body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but
those who died in the plague numbered 24,000. The Lord said to Moses, "Phinehas
has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for
my honor."
Numbers 25:1-2,6,7,8,9,10,11
Phinehas was as zealous as God
himself for God's honor. He refused to be "tolerant" when the men of
Israel were drawn into the worship of Baal and sexual immorality by Moabite
(non-Israelite) women. Compelled for God's honor, this article will address the
issue of marrying and dating only disciples.
To fully understand God's heart
on many subjects, one must search the Old and New Testaments. Throughout the
Scriptures God's heart has been to have a "people of His own."
(Deuteronomy 7:6) In the Old Testament they were the Hebrews, the physical
nation of Israel. In the New Testament, His people were the Christians, the
disciples, the
church, the "holy nation" of spiritual Israel. (1 Peter
2:9) Let us not forget that the Old Testament is the physical fore-shadowing of
the New Testament spiritual realities. The Hebrews' slavery in Egypt parallels
the slavery of sin before one becomes a Christian. The miraculous Red Sea
crossing parallels baptism - the washing away of all our sins. (1 Corinthians
10:2) The forty years wandering in the desert is analogous to the Christian
life. (Some people mistakenly believe the Promised Land is the parallel to the
Christian Life. That's why their faith is shaken when tough times come, they
expect all their problems to go away, not the "venomous snakes and
scorpions" of life - Deuteronomy 8:15.) The Jordan River represents
death, thus the song "Jordan River, I'm bound to cross." Finally, the
Promised Land is heaven!
Abraham is our "father of
faith" and the "father" of the Jews. When he sought a wife for
his son Isaac, Abraham told his servant, "I want you to swear by the
Lord, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for
my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, but will go
to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac."
(Genesis 24:3-4) Of great interest is Genesis 26:34-35. This passage records
Isaac and Rebekah's heart about marrying "outside" God's people. "When
Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and
also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite. They were a source of grief to Isaac
and Rebekah." Later Rebekah comments to Isaac, "'I'm
disgusted with living because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a wife from
among the women of this land, from Hittite women like these, my life will not be
worth living.' So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: 'Do
not marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan Aram, to the house of your
mother's father Bethuel. Take a wife for yourself there, from among the
daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.'" (Genesis 27:46-28:2)
Clearly to marry outside God's people disturbed Rebekah. Incidentally, Esau
later takes a wife from God's people. (Genesis 28:8-9)
As for "casual dating"
relationships, who can forget the Philistine Delilah and her
"influence" that took Samson away from God. (Judges 16:20) Seemingly,
Samson's attraction to women was purely physical as he previously was married to
a non-Israelite (Judges 14:2) and after her death spent time with prostitutes.
(Judges 16:1) Like many, Samson confused lust with love.
In 1 Kings 11:1-4 the Spirit
writes, "King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides
Pharaoh's daughter-Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They
were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, "You must
not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their
gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven
hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him
astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and
his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his
father had been." The Bible is clear that Solomon's non-Jewish
wives led his heart astray from God through "love." The "feelings
of love" for a "person not of the faith" must be subordinated to
our love for God. (Luke 14:25-27)
During the restoration of
physical Israel and the rebuilding of the temple, Nehemiah "lays it
out" about marrying outside the faith. "Moreover, in those days
I saw men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab... I
rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled
out their hair. I made them take an oath in God's name and said: 'You are not to
give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their
daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves. Was it not because of
marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations
there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over
all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. Must we hear now that
you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our
God by marrying foreign women?'" (Nehemiah 13:23-27) In this
passage marrying a "foreigner" is "sin,"
"terrible wickedness" and "being unfaithful
to...God." The prophet Ezra wept over this same unfaithfulness to
God. (Ezra 10:1-3)
The New Testament teachings on
marriage are built on the Old Testament's foundation. God is the same yesterday,
today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8) God desires for His people are:
- Faithfulness to Him;
- Purity - sex only within
marriage;
- Produce children of faith
through the marriage union. 1 Corinthians 7:39 teaches, "A woman
is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is
free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord."
"Freedom in Christ" is not marrying anyone but marrying "anyone
who belongs to the Lord." Remember there is no marriage in
heaven. The fundamental purpose of marriage is to get us and our children to
heaven. One person once said, "The person you marry will likely
determine where you spend eternity."
2 Corinthians
6:14-7:1 states, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what
do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light
have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a
believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the
temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has
said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and
they will be my people.' 'Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the
Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.' Since we have
these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that
contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for
God." In the above New Testament passage, the Old Testament (Isaiah
52:11) is quoted in verse 16 as the command to be "separate"
from the world. This passage clearly teaches that a relationship outside of
Christ - marriage or dating - is not condoned by the Scriptures. Though dating
is a Western culture phenomenon, this relationship is extremely influential in
our lives. As a young Christian (eight months old) I went home for Christmas
vacation. During this time, I "hooked-up" with my old high school
"friends" at a high school basketball game. Afterwards I spent time
with a non-Christian girl, who was "just a friend." In a few days
time, we "fell" into gross impurity. The next day feeling overwhelmed
by guilt because of my hypocrisy, I went to this girl's front door. When she
answered I apologized for my behavior and shared with her I had recently become
a Christian. Though she did not feel at all badly about our sin, I told her I
could not see her again. And I did not. My rationalization for going out with
her was I did not see anyone in my campus ministry that I "liked."
Since I was spiritually weak, beauty and personality replaced "a heart
devoted to God" as my top priority in looking for a girlfriend. I learned
the hard way that "light" must be separate from "darkness."
What shall we do in our worldwide
fellowship of churches? First of all, be unashamed and teach God's conviction on
marriage and dating showing God's heart to have "a people of His
own" from both the Old and New Testaments. Secondly, in compassion
reach out to the non-Christian that is dating the Christian. If this individual
does not get baptized, then share with the disciple God's Word on this subject.
Do not be led astray by the argument that "so and so" dated a
non-Christian and later was baptized as a rational for dating non-Christians.
Sometimes people become Christians in spite of our lack of righteousness! The
facts are that so many more have fallen away from the truth because of their
"love" of a non-Christian. Some in rationalizing dating outside of the
church have become "fuzzy" on who is a true Christian. To be a
Christian, one must believe in Jesus, repent (make the decision to be a
disciple) and be baptized for the remission of sins. Of consideration even the
Catholics teach you should marry Catholics, the Mormons believe in only marrying
Mormons and the Muslims have been known to kill a Muslim that does not marry a
Muslim. Though these groups do not follow the Scriptures' teaching on salvation,
they understand the concept of marriage in relation to "their view" of
"God's people." Are Jesus' true disciples to be any less convicted?
If the above lesson is not from
Scripture, then simply let the Spirit blow it away like chaff. However, if this
lesson is based on Scripture, then these are not simply the teachings of
"Portland," but the very words of God! I plead with all who will
listen, to consider these Scriptures and then "put them into
practice" for the honor of God!
Kip McKean
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