MARCH FORTH IN THE LOVE OF CHRIST.
In the name + of Jesus.
Bennie and Krystal,
I don’t know if you gave any thought to
the date you chose for your wedding, but whether this is on purpose or a happy
coincidence, today is March 4th.
It practically begs me to use it as the theme for this sermon: March
Forth In The Love of Christ.
Now, it makes sense to talk about love at
a wedding, but “love” is a rather elastic word.
You love your country. You love
your spouse. You love music. I am guessing you love pizza and
barbeque. I mean, who doesn’t? But they are not all the same. You don’t love your spouse the way you love food. So, we need to be a bit more specific about
what kind of love we are talking about.
St. Paul talks about the love that Jesus Christ
has for the Church and the love that the Church has for Christ. This is what the love of a husband and wife
is to reflect. Let’s consider St. Paul’s
words, especially because they can be so easily misunderstood.
Krystal, this is how St. Paul instructs
you to march forth in the love of Christ: “Wives, submit
to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the
head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior” (Ephesians
5:22-23).
Now, as a good American, you probably cringed at that verse. You heard the word submit, and you
might think that God is telling you to forfeit your personality or to let your
husband walk all over you. You would not
be marrying Bennie if you expected him to do that. Besides, your personality is a big reason Bennie
wants to marry you. So, what is this
submission St. Paul is talking about?
First of all,
you should know that there is no verse in the Bible that tells a man to make
his woman submit. Your submission is to
be done willingly. You submit because
you trust the man you are marrying. You
trust that he will do good to you and be good for you. You submit as the Church submits to Christ. Why does the Church submit to Christ? In order to receive good things from him. Jesus put his name upon us to make us his very
own. He loves us, protects us, provides
for us. The Church is not degraded by
submitting to Jesus. Christ devoted himself
to the Church as his Bride so that he would exalt her and bless her. So, by your willing submission, you trust
that Bennie will be exalting you and blessing you.
Now Bennie, this
is how St. Paul tells you to march forth in the love of Christ: “Husbands,
love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that
he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of
water with the word, so that he might present
the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such
thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love
their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but
nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church” (Ephesians 5:25-29).
Bennie, you march forth in the love of
Christ by being committed to Krystal as Jesus is committed to his Church. How did Jesus commit himself to the Church? Jesus took from us every mark on our
record. Every selfish act, every bitter
word, every wicked thought—Jesus took all of this and made himself accountable
for it. He did not do it because he had
to. He did it to rescue us from God’s
anger.
You know how angry you can get when
someone sins against you. Now recognize
that every sin we do is a violation of God’s word. God supplies all we need to live so that we
could love and serve him and love and serve our fellow man, too. But we respond with self-centered
disobedience. God has every right to be angry
with us. Nothing we do can make up for
our sins. Since we cannot save
ourselves, Jesus came to save us. In taking
our sin upon himself, Jesus made himself the guilty one in our place. As the guilty one, Jesus suffered the cursed
death that we deserve. Jesus hung on a
cross, enduring the wrath of God and the agonies of hell for one reason—out of
love for us. The love of Christ always seeks
our good.
This love is not a momentary
infatuation. It is not a romantic
impulse. It is a faithful commitment. Jesus’ love is a policy: He seeks our good at
all times and in all things. Even when
we fail him—and we still do because we are still sinners—Jesus continues to be
merciful and forgives us. In baptism, he
cleanses us of every stain of sin. With
his innocence, Jesus covers every smudge of impurity. Therefore, he does not see any blemishes on
you. You are beautiful to him. He delights in you, and he has made you delightful
to God. Bennie, this is
how you will march forth in the love of Christ.
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself
up for her” (Ephesians 5:25). You give
of yourself to seek the good of Krystal and Maddie in everything you do. And by submitting to him, Krystal, you will
welcome his care, encourage him, and honor him in love.
March forth in
the love of Christ. Bennie and Krystal,
it will not always be easy to do this.
You are both sinners. You will disagree
from time to time. You will argue from
time to time. There will be days when
you are tired and will not feel very energized to show love like you know you
should. The devil will use moments like
that to try to rip you apart. The devil
will try to convince you that you are rivals instead of partners.
March forth in
the love of Christ, which means that faithful love is the policy. You will enjoy moments of romance and of
passion, but no one can keep that up constantly. Life will usually be routine, and that is okay. Love is a faithful commitment. You each get to seek each other’s good, especially
when life gets hard. If things should
get ugly, you get to show mercy and to forgive.
Forgiveness is not given because it is deserved; it is given because it
is good for the other person. After you
forgive your wrongs against each other, you get to work on building each other
up to maintain a good marriage. Love and
mercy work together for your good. This
is the love Jesus has for you, for your eternal good.
March forth in the love of Christ. Continue to grow in the love of Jesus, and your love for each other will continue to grow, too.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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