Oct 10, 2025 Marriages That Help Us Honor God – Words of Grace Blog – October 10, 2025
The great potential of marriage is that it can help us honor God, follow Christ, and walk in step with the Holy Spirit. Sadly, marriage can also be a relationship in which a husband and wife find no help in their discipleship or in which they fall away from the Lord all together.
I’ve been thinking about marriage this week as I have meditated on Acts 5 and the well-known account of Ananias and Sapphira. The main message of the sermon on Sunday will not be about marriage, but I do want to address it here.
The account of their sin and judgement by God is brief enough to leave us with some unanswered questions. But the main point is clear. With Ananias in the lead, this couple lied to God, the apostles, and the whole church about how much they received from the sale of property to appear to be giving all the proceeds to help the poor. In fact, they held back some of the money for themselves but said they gave it all.
What they did reveals how the human heart is deceptive, loves the applause of people, idolizes money, and can grow cold toward the needs of others. Their hypocrisy is evident, and it is an ever-present temptation for us to fight.
But what I’ve been considering this week is how marriage can be the context in which sin can be conceived and carried out, and how a couple can conspire together to disobey God.
Ananias and Sapphira are not alone in their couples-conspiracy against the Lord. Adam and Eve showed them how to do it. Eve took the lead in eating from the forbidden tree in the garden, while Adam initially watched and then followed in her sin. Much could be said about Adam’s failure to stand between Eve and the serpent and declare that he and his house would serve the Lord. What we see is that like Ananias and Sapphira, the first married couple did not help each other honor God and were together in their sin.
There is another way. Married couples can submit themselves to the Lord, honor the Lord by helping each other love and obey him, and serve the Lord by serving others. Joseph and Mary, the parents of Jesus, were individually called to submit to the Lord’s will for them and then were called together to raise Jesus in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Priscilla and Aquila, who we will read about later in Acts 18, together walked with Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and explained the way of God to Apollos who became a mighty evangelist to the Jews.
Husbands and wives, are you helping your spouse follow Christ? Husbands, are you leading with the “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord” vision and aspiration? Wives, are you encouraging this spirit from your husbands?
Married couples, have you together made the basic commitments to grow in discipleship, fellowship with a congregation, and service?
Those who are seeking to be married, what are you looking for in marriage? Is it the glory of God in partnership with a mate?
Congregation, are we praying that the marriages among us will be helpful in honoring Christ?
Think on these things this weekend.
I look forward to being with you Sunday as we consider what Acts 4 and 5 teach us about purity and impurity in the church.
-Scott