Honor Marriage: The seventh command of the Ten Commandments is, "You shall not commit adultery." Why does God care so much about faithfulness in marriage? What exactly is marriage, anyway? God's vision for marriage (and sexuality) as a whole-life covenant union is counter-cultural and far from easy. But at the same time, it is beautiful, wise, helpful, and good. It provides relational stability for the husband, wife, and children, security for the ups and downs of life, and can be a wonderful source of love, joy, and peace. Recorded on Mar 12, 2023, on Exodus 20:14 by Pastor David Parks.

Ten Commandments: Learning the Law of Love is a sermon series on the most influential legal code in human history. Why should we learn about the Ten Commandments today? Because they reveal God’s will for how human beings ought to live: to love God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. Ultimately, the law of love points us directly to Jesus.

Sermon Transcript

All year, we’re focusing on Learning the way of Jesus. And today, we’re continuing a sermon series on the Ten Commandments. And we’ve said that the Ten Commandments, as part of God’s moral law, reveal how God wants people to live. And ultimately, this way of life can be summed up as learning to love the Lord your God, heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love your neighbor as yourself. This is a law of love. So today, we’re considering the seventh command, a command to honor marriage. But why does God care so much about marriage? Isn’t marriage just a piece of paper? What even is marriage, and why does God care so much about faithfulness in marriage? Once again, there’s a lot to unpack here. If you have a Bible/app, please open to Exodus 20:12. We’ll read through the second half of the Ten Commandments and then unpack the seventh together today.

Exodus 20:12-17 (NIV), “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” The book of Exodus was written about 4,300 years ago by Moses, the great prophet and leader of ancient Israel. And Exodus describes a key turning point in history when God rescued the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and entered into a covenant relationship with them, which included giving them the Law. The first four commands are focused on how we are to love the Lord our God, while the remaining six are about how to love our neighbor as ourselves. And we’ve seen that our neighbor includes our closest neighbors, including those in our own home/family. We were instructed to honor your father and your mother and to honor the life of every other person. Well, today, we’re focusing on the seventh command, which reads simply, “You shall commit adultery.” Whether you are married or not, committing adultery means having a sexual relationship with anyone other than your spouse. This, of course, limits sexuality to the narrow context of only being appropriate within the covenant of marriage. This sexual ethic is something that people in many cultures and times/places have found to be difficult to follow. It was no less countercultural for ancient Israelites than it was for Christians in the Roman Empire during the time of Jesus than it is for us today. However, it only makes sense once you understand God's intention for what marriage was supposed to be. So, for our remaining time, we will consider four things: (1) what marriage is, (2) what marriage is for, (3) what’s confusing about marriage in the Bible,