Homily For Jordan and Elyse
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· 1 viewHomily for the wedding ceremony of Jordan and Elyse Richter
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It is now that we will take a few moments together, to pull back the curtain just a bit and most importantly bring the Word of the Lord to bear on this present situation. As you both know, we are nothing and can do nothing apart form the work and will of God, and it is his words that direct us, inform us, instruct us and lift us up.
Traditionally this is called the homily of the wedding, we would look at it as a sermon, and this is a weird one. primarily it is for your both, Jordan and Elyse. It is to steel your hearts, to prepare you for what God has called YOU both to in this marriage, but in reality it is for us all. For God’s word is living and active and applicable to us all.
In the book of Genesis that we find the creation of the whole world. As we read the opening chapters is is a testimony to Gods power. He creates everything out of nothing with just the power of his word. God speaks and it comes to being, that is a powerful God. And it is a testimony of his goodness. For he is good and all that he makes is good. Over and over and over again, god made it and he looks at his creation and he saw that “it was good”. But then, in chapter 2 verse 18 we read something a little different. He looks to the crowing pinnacle of his creation, he looks to the only portion of his creation made in his own image, he looks to man and declares “It is Not good for man to be alone”. and so it is there, at the beginning of time, at the foundation of the world and at the beginning of all that God is doing that we find marriage. It is Gods design, it is God’s plan, it is God’s good gift to us.
And it is filling this one issue: that it is not good for man to be alone. So as you are joining together you become a picture, a fulfillment a practical living out of God’s solution to this foundational portion of life that we all wrestle through. Here in marriage we see God’s plan, you are now never alone, you are united with true and holy Unity. As such you are called to live as one, not alone, but holding on to and loving and caring for and supporting one another.
And it is with that thought, the thoughts of Unity that I would like to dwell this evening.
The first thing that we see is that God himself is the model for our unity. We are created in God’s image, and as such his fingerprints are all over us. Our lives become a reflection of his glory and his goodness when lived for him. This is true for every aspect of our lives, especially marriage.
I do not want to get into the philosophical theological weeds pondering the splendor and beauty of the Trinity, But It is helpful to us here, to know and understand that WE serve One God in three persons. The father is not the son is not the spirit yet all are God and there is not One God but three.
It is this level of Unity that we are called to model in our marriages. You are no longer two, but One. This is what we see in our text. God did not create some other, new and different helper for Adam, he did not take some other clump of dust, some other portion of the earth to create a suitable helper for him. no from out of Adam himself, from one of his ribs. God did not, at the beginning of it all take two and form one. Rather he took one and made two — two parts from the whole and the whole is in the parts. This is magnified by how our passage ends. Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” You are now one, joined together in an inseparable bond made before God and designed by God to glorify God and mirror his love for us all.
Which leads to the next thought, as a sort of mirror of God, marriage should mirror his character. We could speak of patience, and joy, grace and forgiveness and all of these are critical, but there is one thing that is far above all the others. It is Love. Love that is based on, and found in God, for it is WHO HE IS. I speak here of a famous passage 1 John 4:16: God is Love.
And it is only through the love of God that any marriage stands a chance. But then, on top of it, marriage becomes a visible and tangible representation of the Love that God has for us. In living in Loving unity you are proclaiming the truth of The God who loves us with your lives. There is a famous phrase, i personally hate it, but it is helpful here. “Preach the gospel at all times” people say. “use words when needed.” Now I don’t like it because how will they know unless someone tells them, but in marriage you are living the true heart of that phrase out. In particular your love shines through and people should see and understand the love of God.
As God loves you with a selfless and patient love, you both must love each other with a selfless patient love. As God loves you both with a love that is kind and keeps no record of wrongs so must you both love each other with a love that keeps no record of Wrongs. As you both are loved by a holy and perfect God who loves with a love that NEVER gives up so too you must both Love each other with an enduring, sanctifying love that Never gives up.
You cannot have unity without love, but in love, and with love for one another you can and will be united together.
But what is the hope? How is this possible? I will be honest, I feel almost a little hypocritical saying all this to you, for I have failed in all these things constantly. And I am sure if we were to run an anonymous poll of all the married couples here There would be universal agreement. WE do not love each other perfectly, we are not always loving in perfect unity. So what, then is our hope?
The hope of Unity is Chrsit. He is the model, source, power and hope for all our marriages.
Our hope becomes gloriously clear when we realize that Christ is not only the patter of Love (as it says in Ephesians, love your Wife ans Chrsit loved the church) but just knowing Chrsit means that we see a reminder that his love and perfection are the PREREQUISITE for marriage. Why can you exert yourself in love for one another? Because you are both recipients of the greatest love the world has ever know. You are the recipients of God’s grace.
It is therefore, under the banner of his grace and love that you may strive in your marriage, and strive you must. In your perfect savior you have the perfect picture of perfect love. Seek to imitate him as you love one another. Then, live in the work of Christ.
Define your marriage by his work and word. Make his presence the center of your lives. Then, allow him to define =what that love is and looks like. He is the hope that you have to be able to love one another perfectly.
He knows you will fall short, and so therefore he calls you to trust in him and his grace. Remember above all else the source of marriage and the source of your unity.
God himself is the Model for the unity
Love is the foundation and source
And Chrsit is the hope that you both have to be united in him
Lets PRAY