Married to Christ
7 min read
27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw what had happened, he fled up the road to Beth Haggan. Jehu chased him, shouting, “Kill him too!” They wounded him in his chariot on the way up to Gur near Ibleam, but he escaped to Megiddo and died there. 28 His servants took him by chariot to Jerusalem and buried him with his ancestors in his tomb in the City of David. 29 (In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king of Judah.)
— 2 Kings 9:27-29
Ahaziah was the son of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat. By all accounts, Jehoshaphat was a good king, but he made the mistake of making an alliance with Ahab, king of Israel. Jehoshaphat’s grandson, Ahaziah, may have been named after Ahab’s son.
Jehoshaphat tried to do what was right by restoring a relationship with Israel. To his credit, Jehoshaphat tried to point Ahab and his son Joram toward God. But that restoration of relationship also compromised the faith of his children and grandchildren.
Jehoshaphat gave his son Jehoram in marriage to Athaliah, a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. And Jehoram and Athaliah had Ahaziah.
One bit of Bible trivia that is interesting in this account is that Meggido is a place where terrible battles happen in the history of Israel. Armageddon, where the final battle occurs between the forces of evil and Jesus, means mountain of Megiddo.
Anyway, as we continue in our house church ministry, we need to stay on point with respect to our purpose. The fellowship we have is wonderful, and there is no shame or guilt in enjoying the fellowship we have. But we also need to be continually reminded that our goal is to seek and to save the lost.
In pursuing this goal, however, we must never compromise our faith in Jesus Christ. Just as Jehoshaphat pointed Ahab and Joram to God, we must always point people to Christ. But we must also learn from Jehoshaphat’s mistake in that we must never “wed” ourselves to unbelief.
What does that mean? It’s hard to say. Maybe it is a matter of our house churches never formally partnering or aligning ourselves with causes or organizations that are not clearly evangelical.
And why would a house church ever do that in the first place? It may happen because of our desire to stay engaged with a VIP who is passionate about some cause or organization. So if such a VIP ever brings up an opportunity like that, we should politely say that our formal partnerships are only with evangelical causes and organizations. And if they ask why, we should confidently say that it is because we do not want to put any cause or organization above our relationship with Jesus Christ and His church.
If a VIP objects and decides to disengage (or even if a “believer” objects and decides to disengage) from our house churches, we should, of course, try to reason with them and keep them engaged. But if they continue to refuse our appeals, then we should be willing to let them go.
Some of us need more motivation to chase after those who are trying to disengage. Others need more motivation to let them go. Such matters take wisdom and some godly common sense on our part.
Staying true to our Christian identity is important for us, and it is good discipleship for our next generation. That is to say, we should always be thinking about the spiritual welfare of the upcoming generation of the church. And this perspective and attitude is for everyone, not just the married folks.
Father, by Your grace, You have called us into salvation through faith in our Lord Jesus. By Your grace, You have called us into out house church ministry. By Your grace, give us wisdom to stay true to our identity and also to our purpose. In jesus’s name. Amen.