Wedding Homily: CJ & Lisa

The first church began in the Garden of Eden. The first church began on the sixth day of the history of the world. The first church, the first gathering of worshipers of the God of heaven had a membership role of two people. The first covenant of marriage was simultaneously the first membership covenant of the first church in the history of the world.

Think about it: the first sermon was preached by Adam when he broke into poetry and song at the sight of his beautiful bride, newly fashioned for him.

The first kiss of peace was also simultaneously a kiss of love.

This works in the other direction as well: the first church fight was also a marriage squabble.

The first worship war ended in the murder of a brother.

The first church was also the first family, the first marriage.

And this is why Paul quotes Genesis: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” And then he immediately says: this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Paul recalls the creation of Adam and Eve and sees Christ and the Church, joined into one body, one flesh.

Paul reads Genesis and immediately sees the body of Christ, one flesh, all mysterious.

Of course haunting the early chapters of Genesis is the first sin, the first act of church discipline, the first curses hurled into the world from the mouth of God. And Genesis says that God “drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.” (3:24)

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul describes the glory of the body of Christ, that it is made up of many different members with different gifts, but it is the same Spirit that fills the whole body, enlivening it, equipping every part to fulfill its calling in the body. This happens in such a way as to make the many members work together, caring for one another, rejoicing with one another, and even suffering with one another. But Paul emphasizes the fact that it is the glorious differences and wonderful diversity in the body that makes it a body. If everyone were a hand, where would the body be? God has fashioned the body with many different parts so that there might be no schism, so that it might be one flesh.

Paul closes chapter 12 by saying: “But earnestly desire the best gifts and yet I show you a more excellent way.”Paul says that he wants this body of Christ to pursue the “excellent way” in order to grow up into this unity, into this one flesh.

The “excellent way” ought to remind us of other places where the gospels describe the “way of the Lord.” Remember how John the Baptist comes preaching, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.’ And that declaration is an echo of several Old Testament stories. The way of the Lord was the dry path through the Red Sea. The way of the Lord was following the angel of the Lord through the wilderness to the Promised Land. And Malachi picks up on these types in his prophecy, declaring that the Lord will once again be on the move, and His messenger will prepare the way before Him. God is preparing a new Exodus. He will lead His people out of bondage into a land flowing with milk and honey.

But all of these paths, these roads, these excellent ways are but the birth pangs of what Jesus came to accomplish. And what Jesus came to accomplish goes back to Genesis, back to the garden, back to the way guarded by cherubim where the first wedding was seemingly interrupted by disobedience and cursing. That way is the most excellent way, the way back into the presence of the Father.

In the gospels, John comes to prepare the way, and Jesus comes and walks through Israel embodying and enacting this way of the Lord, delivering the sick and the oppressed from slavery, and showing the way to the new Canaan, the way of the Kingdom. And in each of the gospels as Christ’s identity becomes more and more clear, this way of Christ takes a turn. He turns His face toward Jerusalem. His way, His path is aimed at Jerusalem and the cross. And on this path, He repeatedly explains that He is going to Jerusalem and there he will be betrayed and handed over to the priests and scribes and then the Romans and ultimately he will be killed and after three days He will rise again.

In John’s gospel, Jesus explains that He will not be with the disciples much longer, but He says, “where I go you know, and the way you know.” And when Thomas asks ‘how can we know the way?’ Jesus says, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Jesus turns His face toward Jerusalem, the way to the cross. But this way doesn’t end at the cross; the cross is the way to the Father. And as Jesus walks this path to the cross, He is the Way to the Father. He is the way through the sea, through the wilderness into Canaan. His death and resurrection re-opens the way into the garden where the wedding feast can resume, life in communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Early in 1 Corinthians, Paul identifies himself as a "wise master builder" (1 Cor. 3:10). The word "master builder" is the same word used in the Septuagint to describe the work of Bezalel and Aholiab in constructing the tabernacle (Ex. 31:4, 35:32, 35). Paul insinuates that he is Bezalel and Apollos is like Aholiab (cf. 1 Cor. 3:5-6). There’s no reason to start rival parties following Paul or Apollos since they are both working on the same building project.

As Bezalel and Aholiab were filled with the Spirit in order to construct the tabernacle and lead the artisans in building according to the Lord’s design, so too Paul says in chapter 7, as he is sorting through issues related to marriage, “I also have the Spirit of God.” Paul is Bezalel seeking to piece the Corinthians together with the rest of the body of Christ into that one tent, that one body, that one flesh.

As the tabernacle is filled with the Spirit, so too Paul says that the Church is a body filled with the Spirit. Pentecost was the dedication of the new tabernacle, the new temple. And the “gifts” of the body are the pieces of this new tabernacle/temple. But it is not enough to have gifts; it is not enough to be curtains or hooks or even an altar. Tongues and prophecies and even understanding great mysteries are not sufficient. The house must be constructed through the “excellent way,” the way through the sea, the way to the cross, the way of love.

Notice how many of these “gifts” are ones frequently mentioned in marriage advice manuals and books. In order to have a happy marriage, you must learn to speak different languages. What’s your love language, CJ? But Paul says that even if you learn all the languages or even an angelic language, and you have not love, it will sound as romantic as a bustling tuba.

Or others may inform you that men and women are aliens from one another. They are from different planets, right? And so, you need to explore the deep mysteries of Venus and Mars. But Paul says that even if you have the gift of prophecy and understand all the mysteries and knowledge, without love this is nothing. Even faith that can move mountains is not sufficient. Faith by itself is not sufficient to bind this body together.

Love is the more excellent way, but ultimately this love that suffers long and is kind, this love that is sinless and perfect, this love that never fails is Christ Himself. Just as Jesus is the way of the Lord, the way to the Father. He is the more excellent way; He is the love that never fails. He is that which is perfect, the end to which all things point. Prophecies will fail, tongues will cease, knowledge will vanish away, but all these things are just glimpses at Christ. In Christ, we are mature sons and heirs of the promises. Becoming this mature man means putting aside childish things.

Now we see in a mirror dimly. The mirror reflects the body of Christ. When the Church looks in the mirror, we ought to see Jesus since we are his body. But this is still dim and mysterious, hard to make out. But the promise is that we will be conformed to the image of Christ. We only know in part now but love is the way in which all the parts of the body cohere, the way the gifts are used for the edification of the body. Love binds the body together and makes the image in the mirror a little clearer.

CJ and Lisa, your marriage today is one small but significant part of the body of Christ. Your marriage is not irrelevant to the Body. In so far as it is the Spirit binding the two of you together into one flesh, the Spirit filling you with the love of Christ that it might spill out of each of you for one another and for those around, in so far as Jesus said that they would know us for our love for one another, your marriage today is every bit a part of that as evangelism or mercy ministry or hospitality. In fact, Christian marriage is one of the most strategic places for your gifts to be used to build up the Body.

Your marriage is not something different, something outside of the body of Christ. Marriage is part of the mirror that God has given us to look into. And as we love one another, God invites us to see the face of Christ in one another, and in the rest of the body.

Now, we know in part, we see dimly, but Love is the perfection of this mystery. Love is God come in human flesh to walk the way to the cross, the way through the sea and wilderness of death, the way back into the garden, the way to the Father.
The first church began with a wedding feast and a worship service all bound up into one.

The first church was composed of a husband and wife enlivened by the Spirit, bound together in Love, one body, one flesh, with glorious differences and wonderful diversity so that there would be no divisions in the body.

And you have the Spirit God, CJ and Lisa, you have the wisdom and skill of Bezalel and Aholiab, and as you build your house together in the wisdom of love, remember that your house is part of an even greater body, an even greater house. And this, your wedding in the presence of God, is in some small way a return to the original wedding in the garden which will one day burst out into the great marriage supper of the Lamb.

So CJ, I call you to preach like Adam. May your songs of love for Lisa always simultaneously be sermons declaring the gospel of the love of God in the cross of Christ. And Lisa, may your kisses of love always be kisses of peace.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen!

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Brian and Kelly

As I’ve meditated on Dt. 7 and thought about what I would say to you, Brian and Kelly, I’ve thought that this really is a great wedding text. I think it needs to make it into the wedding lessons more frequently than it usually does.

This passage talks about conquest, destroying idols, the love and election of God, the covenant and mercy of God, the judgment and blessing of God. Everything is there. Everything is here for a great wedding sermon. Joshua and I have the great privilege of tag-teaming you today: I will be laying out all the weapons and instruments, and then he will get to poke you with them.

The chapter begins with a declaration of the gospel. Moses says, “When the Lord you God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and cast out many nations before you… nations greater and mightier than you…” That’s the same way the Ten Commandments begin: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt…” The Word of God begins with blessing, it begins with salvation, it begins with the gospel, with the declaration of victory and freedom. But notice one significant difference from the preamble to the Ten Commandments. Here in Dt. 7, the gospel is future. The gospel is a declaration of good news concerning what God will do, what is coming.

The truthfulness of God’s promise is so certain, that Moses gives specific commands to the Israelites regarding these promises. When you take possession of this land that God will give you… The Israelites will need to be prepared to do several things. First, Moses tells them that when God delivers the enemy nations over to them, Israel must conquer and destroy them. And in case there was in ambiguity in that requirement, Moses makes it clear that this means they may not make covenants with them or show mercy to them. Sinful hearts have the amazing ability to turn commands like “destroy them” and “conquer them” into suggestions that really mean something more like make covenants with them and show them mercy. Moses has been with Israel long enough to know better, and he throws a couple of road blocks up to at least slow them down. He also tells them that this means they can’t make marriages with them or allow their sons and daughters to intermarry. Moses notices one fellow in the back scribbling furiously who had figured out how to make the words “destroy” and “conquer” form a chiasm which actually symbolically represented a unity candle which obviously meant that God wanted them to all get married. But Moses closes that exit too. He points that intermarriage would be a particular folly because it will result in turning their children and grand children away from following the Lord to follow other gods instead, and the end result of that will be that Israel will have become an enemy of God. And God destroys His enemies, and so God will have to destroy Israel.

Again, Moses doesn’t leave any doors unlocked for Israel. He spells out clearly that this means Israel must specifically destroy all of the pagan altars and liturgical trinkets they find in the land. The pillars, the images, and the altars must be cut down, broken down, and burned in the fire (7:5).

The Lord reminds Israel that she is a chose people, a special treasure above all the peoples of the earth. But He also reminds them that this is not because of something special in them. It wasn’t because they were the strongest or the most numerous – that was clearly not the case. Rather, they were the least of all peoples, and the Lord brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand. The Lord set his love upon Israel because of His great mercy and because of His covenant with their forefathers.
The passage concludes reminding the people of Israel of what it means to be the covenant people of God. What does it mean to be loved by God? God’s love for His people means blessing and mercy for a thousand generations toward those who love Him and keep His commandments (7:9). And this means blessing and prosperity in the womb, in their land, in their grain, in their wine and oil, in the cattle, and God promises to drive barrenness and sickness and the plagues of Egypt far away from them. But this love of God also includes a righteous jealousy that insists that He will repay those who hate him, and those who refuse His love and resolve to be His enemies, He will treat like enemies and destroy them.

So what does all of this have to do with love and marriage? Well nearly everything actually. A faithful and godly marriage must include everything that we covered in this passage. Marriage begins with the blessing of God, and that’s really what a wedding ceremony is. We all stand up here and put our best clothes on and ask God to bless this new family, this new household. We begin with the blessing of God, but that blessing is a blessing that looks forward to something. It’s good news, it’s a promise of blessing, but it’s future. Your suits and dresses and flowers are meant to point forward. They of course honor you today, but they are also meant to signify in a small way the glory that awaits you. The glory of life together, the joy of children, laughter around dinner tables, the wonder of making love, walks under the stars at night, and the countless other glories of sharing life together. But you haven’t done that yet. It’s all ahead of you. And so all of that is the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And of course literally, the Lord will give you a place, a piece of land probably where you will settle down together. But all of that is the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you.

But this inheritance is not free of enemies. Today, the Lord is declaring to you that He is giving you this wonderful land, this wonderful gift, all of these glories and far more. And the Lord is also declaring to you that He will take you there, He will ensure that you arrive safely, and He will cast out the nations that stand in your way. And just to be clear, this doesn’t mean that God is arranging for the layoff of some poor chap in graduate student housing so that you can get a really fancy duplex. No, we do not struggle against flesh and blood, our struggle is against far more insidious nations, far more difficult enemies. The enemies of sin, the flesh, and the devil, and of course this doesn’t mean that your warfare is only inside your head. This warfare begins now and you will face these enemies everywhere. You will face them at your dinner table, when you’re going to bed at night, and when you get up in the morning. You will face temptations at your work, in your studies, with your children, with friends, family, and throughout the rest of your life. But the Lord your God has promised to cast them out before you. He promises to cast out these sins, these lusts of the flesh, these devils that try to drag us down. God promises to give you this land, and therefore He will go before you and prepare it for you.

But this doesn’t mean you just get to relax. The command is the same for you as it was for Israel. You must go into this land and conquer and destroy these enemies. And you may not make covenants with them and you may not show them mercy. What are the names of these enemy nations: pride and arrogance, lust and greed, contentiousness and bitterness, backbiting and lies, all of those nations must go. And of course these evils do not ordinarily show up and introduce themselves with horns and a tail and a pitchfork. They don’t usually show up and introduce themselves as evil and ask to be your friend. And this means that you must be on your guard, alert, with your hand upon your sword at all times. And of course your sword is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Ps. 149 has the wonderful line where the Psalmist calling God’s people to praise Him, and he says, “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples” (Ps. 149:6-7). How are the nations to be driven from the land? With the high praises of God in your mouth and a two-edged sword in your hand. In other words, let the word dwell in you richly so that you are constantly armed against every enemy.

Like Israel, you need to recognize that the reason God is granting you this wonderful inheritance, the reason he calls you to these great blessings, is because you are His people, you are a special treasure to Him. And this is not because you are stronger, smarter, better looking, or greater than everyone else. No, actually one of the qualifications for being special in God’s eyes is being helpless and weak. Just as God delivered Israel out Egypt with an outstretched arm and displayed his might and glory in that great victory, so too God has displayed his power and glory in each of you. He has freed you from your own enslavement to sin and death, and has brought out with His outstretched arm. And He has done this simply and solely because the Lord loves you, and He loves to display his covenant mercy and kindness.

And God promises that this love and mercy will go with you. It is this love and mercy that guards you and keeps you; it is this love and mercy that goes before you and casts out the enemy nations from the land. It is God’s love and mercy that promises you children and grandchildren, promises to bless you in all of your endeavors, and to drive all barrenness and evil from your midst. God is the one who has brought you out of Egypt, and He is the one who will keep Egypt far from you.
Of course the warning is also for you: God does repay those who hate Him, there are curses for those who reject His love and mercy. And marriage pictures this covenant so well because it too is a covenant. And you all have been around long enough to know that marriages can be some of the most wonderful blessings and glories, and others can be pure and horrifying hell. And it really always comes down to love and mercy. So remember the love and mercy of your God, the love and mercy that surrounds you today, the love and mercy that promises to follow you all the days of your life, the love and mercy that will go before you and cast out your enemies. Gird your sword upon your thigh, with your glory and your majesty, and ride forth from here in majesty because of truth, humility, and righteousness, and Your right hand will teach you awesome things. Your arrows will be sharp in the heart of the King’s enemies; the peoples will fall under you.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen!

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Chris & Abby

“And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." They immediately left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.” (Mt. 4:18-22)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the most famous Christian leaders of the resistance against Hitler’s Third Reich. He had made his way out of Germany for a little while early on, but he refused to stay out. “I shall have no right,” he wrote to a friend, “to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share the trials of this time with my people…” After working tirelessly for several years to encourage and lead the faithful Christians in Germany, he was finally arrested by the Gestapo on April 5th, 1943. He spent two years in concentration camps, and was finally killed in Flossenburg by special order of Himmler on April 9th, 1945, just a couple of days before Allied troops arrived. One of Bonhoeffer’s most famous works is the book “The Cost of Discipleship.” Bonhoeffer’s comments and observations in that book are given particular weight and glory by virtue of Bonhoeffer’s own death. He famously says, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” In the forward of the edition I own, GKA Bell writes of that statement: “There are different kinds of dying, it is true; but the essence of discipleship is contained in those words. And this marvelous book is a commentary on the cost. Dietrich himself was a martyr many times before he died.”

Bonhoeffer describes the call of Jesus as “nothing else than bondage to Jesus Christ alone, completely breaking through every program, every ideal, every set of laws. No other significance is possible, since Jesus is the only significance. Beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.” (58-59)

In our text for today from Matthew’s gospel, Jesus calls two sets of brothers: Simon Peter and Andrew and then James and John. But it might seem odd to choose this text for a wedding homily. On the one hand, this text seems singularly unromantic. It seems out of place, even a bit crass for a beautiful ceremony like this. Here we are in our finest clothes: we have a beautiful young woman being given to a handsome, faithful man. And I’ve just read about a bunch of dirty fisherman and their smelly nets and boats. And on the other hand, there’s nothing here about love, nothing about making love, husbands, wives, having babies, Adam and Eve naked in the garden, all the usual sorts of topics for wedding sermons.

And I’ve also begun with a rather morbid introduction about a martyr and a reminder of the great evils sinful men are capable of. But if Bonhoeffer is right, if it is true that “beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters,” then it is true here. It is true right now at this wedding ceremony. If beside Jesus nothing else matters, then beside Jesus this ceremony doesn’t matter. Your beauty, your faithfulness, the flowers, the candles: nothing else matters.

And that’s the point of the text: Jesus is not at all concerned about the abruptness of his call. He does not apologize for interrupting. And elsewhere he makes it clear that He is interrupting. He means to interrupt. In Mark, Jesus calls Levi while he is sitting at his tax office. Jesus orders Levi to leave his occupation. There is no indication that Levi gave his two weeks notice or even notified his superior. In Luke 9, the time table is even more explicit. When Jesus calls a couple of people they ask to first go and bury their father or to go home and say goodbye, and Jesus responds by saying, ‘No, follow me now, or else you are not fit for the kingdom of God.’ Jesus says to his would-be disciples: Follow me. Follow me now. He interrupts their lives.

We are here celebrating the marriage of Chris and Abby, but if beside Jesus nothing else matters, then this occasion must be oriented to that. This wedding must be oriented to the Call of Jesus. And so this celebration is not merely a union of a husband and a wife. It is that, but it is far more importantly, a commissioning service. Today the Lord Jesus is calling you to be His disciples. And you might say, well we already were his disciples yesterday, and that’s true and right, but Jesus calls and he does not stop calling. He begins to call many of us from our infancy, he begins to call some of us when we are older, but He does not stop calling. He calls us every Lord’s Day in worship. He calls us through His Word and in the sacraments. He calls us through friends and family who faithfully remind us in word and deed. And so this is yet another Call of Jesus. And Jesus says to both of you, Chris and Abby, follow me. And you might say that’s a nice moralistic lesson, but there must always be concrete acts of obedience in order to follow Jesus faithfully. And there are at least two concrete acts of obedience before each of you today. First, toward Jesus himself, the command is once again to repent and believe. And this command goes broadly to all here in attendance. If you are harboring any sin, if you continue to withhold some aspect of your life from the Lord Jesus Christ, as an ordained minister of the Lord Jesus, I am authorized to command you to stop it. Whatever little idol you are clutching to, drop it now. Whatever you are clutching at, you may not have it. And Chris and Abby, this must be the foundation of your marriage. Drop everything today; drop everything tomorrow. Bonhoeffer says that the faithful disciple “simply burns his boats and goes ahead.”

And this leads us to the second command which is specific to Chris and Abby. You are called today to marry one another, to love one another, and to give yourselves fully to one another. And really, the challenging part of that command is to keep doing it, to die doing it. You must each become martyrs for one another many times before you die. And Jesus fully intends this as an interruption. Like all faithful disciples, you are both leaving family behind in various ways. James and John left their father Zebedee in the boat and followed Jesus. And each of you are leaving father and mother in different ways to be united as husband and wife. But it’s a glorious interruption. You two have been living lives for the last number of years as members of different families, differing styles, differing tendencies. You have had plans of your own, and in God’s goodness He has brought you together. And you’ve been drawing closer over the last couple of years. But even with all that planning, all that getting to know one another, you will soon find that it is a great deal more than you ever imagined. In God’s goodness, He designed marriage such that two completely different people are knit into one. And what really is impossible apart from the working of God’s grace is glorious and wonderful, but you must know that Jesus calls you to do this today, now. Jesus bids you come and die. And that means that from this day forward you cannot live as you did yesterday. You cannot live as singles any longer. That life is over. Jesus calls you to die and to begin a new life today.

Lastly, notice that in our text Jesus calls pairs of disciples to follow Him and become fishers of men. Of course these are two sets of brothers, but in your case, Jesus is calling you as a pair. Fundamentally, you are a brother and a sister in the Lord first before you are husband and wife. Since beside Jesus nothing has any significance, your first identity is with Jesus. You are first related to Him as brother and sister, and Jesus has called you together to be His disciples together. And all Christian marriages are this. Every Christian marriage is a commissioning where Jesus calls two people to be His disciples together, to follow Him together. We see this in Acts where Aquila and Priscilla took Apollos aside together and explained the way of God to him more accurately. Of course there are specific gifts and callings given within the general call of discipleship, but you are nevertheless called. You are called to follow Jesus now, today. You are called to leave behind all that hinders you from following this call in obedience, and you are called to this together.

The point of marriage of course includes all the things we said at the beginning. But perhaps one of the less mentioned purposes of marriage is so that you can follow Jesus more effectively. This is the most important part of the help you are called to provide to one another. You are called to be disciples of Jesus, to follow Him wherever He commands, to drop what you are doing, to burn the boats and simply follow. And you are called to assist one another in doing this. You are called to egg each other on, to remind each other regularly, daily, incessantly, that beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.

Paul says husbands do this through loving their wives like Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. And wives do this through submitting to their husbands as to the Lord. You must be martyrs many times before you die, and these are your orders. In order to die well, we all get to practice dying every day. And this is most certainly true in marriage. Dying to self, living for each other – Chris loving, Abby submitting – this is the daily martyrdom that Jesus calls every husband and wife to. But this is the call to discipleship, the call to grace, the call to freedom and joy and blessing. So Chris and Abby, I call you to this grace, to this blessing, to this glory because surely beside Jesus nothing has any significance. He alone matters.

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.

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Austin and Laura

Austin and Laura, I want to meditate for a few moment s on the Scripture Lesson from Isaiah 61. In the verses leading up to the ones that were read, Yahweh, speaking through the mouth of the prophet says to the people of Israel in exile that he will one day pour out his Spirit upon one who will preach good news to the poor, heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and announce the acceptable year of the Lord. Of course Jesus is this one who is anointed with the Spirit, and he reads this very passage when he begins his ministry in Galilee. And he explicitly insists that what Isaiah the prophet was talking about is coming to fulfillment in him. Later, Jesus makes reference to this when the disciples of John are sent to ask whether he is the Coming One or if they should look for another. Jesus points to his ministry, and sends the disciples back to John with that report. Jesus insists that the Spirit is upon him, and he has been going through Israel enacting this healing, this liberation, and preaching good news to the poor. And Isaiah 61 concludes with what was just read: God declaring that he loves justice and hates robbery, and because this is the case, he will make an everlasting covenant with Israel. The result of this covenant will be that the people of God will be famous throughout the world as God’s people. And this covenant of salvation will be like a glorious wedding, like a bride and groom decked out in ornaments and jewels.

St. John picks up on these same themes in Revelation when he sees the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, “as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). Later, one of the angels takes John on a tour of the city and says, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Rev. 21:9). And the book ends with the Spirit and the bride speaking as one, calling out “Come!” (Rev. 22:17). The Spirit and the bride call the thirsty to come, to drink the water of life freely. The bride and the Spirit call the thirsty world to come and drink, to quench their thirst in the waters of life. Of course earlier in the chapter we’re also told that on either side of this “pure river of water of life” are trees of life bearing twelve fruits, yielding fruit every month, and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.

Bound up into the Isaiah passage and this imagery in Revelation is the idea of marriage and healing, or marriage and mercy. God promises in Isaiah to come marry his people, and when he does he will bring healing and mercy and liberation. When John sees the New Jerusalem, the bride of God coming down out of heaven, John sees a bride adorned with the water of life to quench the thirst of the world. John sees the trees of life with their twelve fruits and their leaves for the healing of the nations. When God describes his salvation, his covenant, he says it’s like a marriage, it’s like a wedding.

But this means that we need to learn to reason back the other way as well. When we witness a wedding, we are witnessing a picture of the way God promises to heal the world. We’re celebrating a picture of the way God preaches good news to the poor. We’re here with you today to enact a small portion of the acceptable year of the Lord. This is what proclaiming liberty looks like. This is what good news looks like. This is what the healing of broken hearts looks like. When God describes himself performing these things, he says it’s like a groom all decked out in all his glory; it’s like a bride all adorned, all lovely.

And that being so, the charge to each of you is to be what you are. Be a groom and a bride that continue to portray the healing and mercy and freedom that God has brought to this world in our Lord Jesus. But start by being this for one another. It’s not our custom to anoint men and women when they get married, but you are becoming a king and queen today. And that’s why in some Christian traditions, the bride and groom are literally given crowns or wreathes that symbolize their royal callings. Austin and Laura, you are becoming King and Queen to one another and for one another and all that God gives you. But the exhortation is to cultivate healing and mercy and freedom with one another first. The river of life in Revelation is flowing out of the city, out from the throne of the lamb, out into the world for the healing of the nations. This means that the city, the bride, is already saturated with life. The city has already been healed, the city has already been set free, the city has already been shown mercy. She now has plenty of life to give, healing to bestow, liberty to proclaim, and justice to enact.

Austin, when you get up in the morning tomorrow and the next day and the day after that, remind yourself of Isaiah 61. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…” And then get busy doing that for your wife. Let your words to her be good news. Let your words be words of healing and encouragement. Proclaim liberty and freedom to her. And continually give her Sabbath rest, continually celebrate the acceptable year of the Lord. Commit yourself to establishing a home that is full of the spirit of Jubilee. Forgiveness must flow from you like the waters of life. And be quick to seek forgiveness teaching your family by example. Assume responsibility for your household; it is a small kingdom, a city that you are being given charge of. So rule in wisdom. Cancel debts, keep no record of wrongs, enact justice, care for the poor, and do not allow bitterness to reside under your roof.

Laura, when you get up tomorrow morning and the next day and the day after that, remember that you are called to do the same. You are called to be a bride saturated with life, producing trees of life for the healing of the nations. But remember that this calling begins with your husband. Let your water of life quench your husband’s thirst. Proclaim good news to him, bestow mercy and healing upon him, cultivate a home that rejoices in the God of salvation, the God of mercy, the God of Jubilee.

Together, you are for us today a picture of what God plans to do with the entire world. You both are dying today. You are dying to your old lives alone, dying to your selves, and being raised up to a new life together as one flesh. You are clothed in wedding garments, and we will feast and celebrate together shortly. In an important sense, you are even a picture of forgiveness in that you are putting your past behind you. You are repenting of your singleness and turning toward one another, and when you kiss in a few moments, it will not only be a kiss of love but most assuredly it will be a kiss of peace. And all of this is a picture of what God is doing in our world. He plans to clothe this world in the garments of salvation. He has put away our sins and forgiven all our debts in the death and resurrection of Jesus. He proclaims liberty to us, and the acceptable year of our Lord Jesus. And in the gospel, the angels continually declare peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

You are this picture of freedom and gladness. You are this image of salvation and mercy and healing and peace. And your calling is to continue in this. Even after you’ve returned the tux and packed up the wedding dress, remember that you have been commissioned by the Holy Spirit to enact mercy and healing and liberty to one another and those around you. You are jubilee today, and your vows are promises to walk in that grace all the days of your life.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen!

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Wedding Exhoration

Psalm 45 is a wedding psalm. It was composed for a royal wedding. And even though this a song, a poetic celebration of a marriage, there are several exhortations that can be drawn from it. But first, just a general point about our celebration today: As most of you know, D--- was baptized last Sunday along with the children that are under the care of D--- and M---. In keeping with that baptism, this wedding today is an act of repentance. Repentance simply means “turning.” D--- has turned from a former life, and he has now submitted himself to King Jesus. And this means that he, like all of us, has begun a life of continual repentance, a life of studying God’s Word and seeking to submit our lives to the rule of Jesus. One of the clear teachings of Scripture is that the marriage covenant is how God intends for men and women to dwell together as family. There is tons of confusion on this issue in our day, but this is simply the fact that at the creation of the world God established the pattern that when a man and a woman were to come together they were to leave their families and become one flesh, and there was to be a public covenant established. There are two reasons for this: first because a public covenant is enforceable. When two people make promises in public, those who hear and observe the covenant promises are called upon to witness the vows and hold them accountable. In our day especially, where far too many men take advantage of helpless and unprotected women, it is absolutely necessary that Christian men honor and protect women by marrying the woman they want to be with. Secondly, there must be a public covenant of marriage because this best reflects the gospel. Paul says that husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church. This means that every couple is always preaching a gospel. Every husband or live-in boyfriend is always proclaiming something about Jesus; the only question is what are you proclaiming? Are you proclaiming a false or heretical gospel that Jesus is a coward who is afraid of commitment and is just in it for cheap thrills? Jesus came and died for his people, his bride. He committed himself to us even to the death and he secured our salvation and has promised publicly through his death and resurrection that he will never leave us. And that is what we are doing here today. D--- and M---, you are publicly declaring the gospel today in your words and actions. You are saying that Jesus is King and he has come and given himself to us in his death and resurrection, and therefore as his servants, you are giving yourselves to one another, to die for one another, to sacrifice for one another, and that you will never leave or forsake one another until God has parted you in death.

First, D---, the Psalm begins with the groom. It says that he is fairer than all the sons of men, that there is grace upon his lips, and that God has blessed him forever. You need to understand this day, your wedding day and every day that follows for the rest of your life as God’s blessing you. Today, God is singling you out and exalting you above all the men here present and pouring grace on your lips. What is this blessing that God is bestowing upon you? A wife. The Apostle Paul says that the wife is the glory of the husband. From this day forth, M--- is your glory; she is your crown. And this leads to the next point in the Psalm: Gird your sword upon your thigh. Ride prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness. And your right hand shall teach you awesome things. This day is a call to battle, D---. Today, you are being coronated; you are being crowned and made a king. Your crown is M---; she is your glory. Therefore, as a king you are called to battle, to rule and reign. So gird your sword upon your thigh, ride forth because of truth, humility, and righteousness. And your right hand shall teach you awesome things. Pursue truth; pursue humility, and pursue righteousness. How must you do this? Not by just winging it, not by just guessing but by immersing yourself in the Scriptures. In Deuteronomy, one of the laws for the kings of Israel was to read the Scriptures daily. You are a king, you have been anointed in baptism, and now you are being crowned with the glory of your wife. Therefore gird your sword upon your thigh, the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God and your right hand will teach you awesome things. How? It will teach you awesome things because you are fighting with it. You are called to do battle with your flesh, with all sin, with every attack of the evil one. You are called to defend your wife and your children from sin and evil, and you are called to teach them to do the same. Finally, the Psalmist says that your scepter is to be one of righteousness: love righteousness and hate wickedness. And you must do both. In order to rule your home in righteousness, you must hate wickedness and you must love righteousness. The root of this wisdom is found in the way Jesus taught his disciples to rule: by serving and laying their lives down for others. This is the kind of rule and authority you are being given, D---. Not the kind that barks orders or makes demands. You are being given an authority and rule that dies, that serves, that sacrifices time, energy, and comfort for the blessing and welfare of your wife and children.

M---, the Psalmist then exhorts the bride to incline her ear, to listen, and he commands her to forget her people and leave her father’s house. This is a general exhortation to leave your past behind. Do not leave it in bitterness; do not leave it with a hard heart. Simply receive what God is giving you now with a thankful heart. Rejoice in his goodness to you, give thanks for his mercy and blessing, and cling to your husband. And the Psalmist says, so shall the king greatly desire your beauty. Because he is your lord, worship him. Obviously this does not mean that you are to worship him as we worship God; given the context, it could easily be translated submit yourself to him, respect him, honor him. This is what Paul explicitly says elsewhere. Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands… This is your glory, M---. You are D---‘s glory, and your glory is your submission to him. You are exhorted here to submit yourself only to his man and no other; you have left your father’s house and there is no man that you must submit yourself to but this one. This is a great glory and great protection. D--- is your king and your defender; he is your lord. And this is exactly what Peter says that wives are to adorn themselves by submitting to their husbands, even as Sarah did to Abraham by calling him “lord.” This is God’s way of adorning you, glorifying you, and this is why your husband will greatly desire your beauty. Your glory, your beauty, your adorning is your submission to your husband. And the Psalmist says that people will entreat you with gifts and seek your advice and council, and you will be a royal daughter, all glorious in your palace.

And so we have gathered here today with gladness and rejoicing, and we trust that instead of your fathers, your sons shall be made princes in all the earth, and that God will make your name, the name H--- a praise in all the earth. Not because you have some kind of ego problem or you’re power tripping, but because we believe the gospel. Jesus is King, our sins are forgiven, and we have been seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have all been made kings and priests to God forever. And all authority and power has been given to Jesus in heaven and earth, and in Him, it has been given to us. Therefore gird your sword upon your thigh and ride forth in majesty. You are a King today and forever; you are a Queen today and forever. D---, glory in your crown, for she is your glory. M--- glory in your King, for this is your glory and your beauty. And may the name H--- be known for truth, humility, and righteousness for a thousand generations.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen!

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