The Beauty of Marriage
Sermon
Together Till Death Us Do Part
(Name) and (name), this is a very special day in your lives. You have gone to great lengths to make it beautiful. Now if only there were some way to insure that your marriage would be beautiful, all the days of your life. I say this, remembering what one wit said, "There's entirely too much worrying about unhappy marriages. Everyone knows that all marriages are happy. It's getting along together after the marriage that creates the problems."
I think you would agree that almost every marriage begins beautifully; maintaining beauty in the relationship is infinitely more difficult. However, God has left you neither helpless nor hopeless. He has a great investment in you both, and his promise is that he will stand by you to provide you with his mercies, that your marriage might grow in depth and glory.
St. John writes of how God shares his love with us, but he also suggests how a marriage can develop an enduring quality of loveliness: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 1 John 4:9-11
Telling you, or any bride and groom standing before an altar, that you must love each other sounds as needless as commanding a three-year-old to eat a candy bar. After all, isn't that what marriage is all about - love?
The truth is, the kind of love John speaks of is far different from what people usually mean when they talk of love. Love is most often regarded as a romantic feeling, but for John, love is far deeper, more beautiful, and more consuming. John's love is not an emotion; it is an event. He refers to the kind of love God has for us. When God wanted to reveal his love to us in its most awesome wonder, he permitted his Son, Jesus, to be crucified. In the crucified Christ, God showed us he was willing to go further than anyone could be asked, in order to prove his love. It was on Calvary that God in Christ redefined love for us. God was saying that love is forgiveness; love is reconciliation; love is restoring, healing, helping: therein is love!
And so, _______ and _______, when John tells you to love one another, he is not saying something that is patently obvious. In reality he is saying nothing less than this: you are both dearly loved by God. Now he has given each of you the responsibility of bearing that sacrificial kind of love into your relationship. In other words, God's love and grace take human form as you care for and share with each other. That means the love you are to foster in your marriage is not simply a feeling, no matter how warm and affectionate, but an action. God's kind of love is always at work. It is not so much a noun as it is a verb. It is a love which works toward harmony and fulfillment. It is a love which grows out of the emotions of courtship to create charitable acts of compassion and kindness.
________ and ________, love will be evident in your marriage when you forgive one another. Love will be illustrated when there is healing and encouragement. Love will be practiced when you help each other and support one another. A love that works to help, heal, restore, and forgive, can make your marriage beautiful - exquisitely beautiful - not only for yourselves, but for all who are in your company.
Love is an event first demonstrated for us by our Lord who gave himself for us. Now he invites you, _________ and ________ to continue that self-giving love in your married life. It will not always be easy. The love which is in the shape of forgiveness will need to be practiced often; there is no other way for you to be truly happy.
And remember, the God who created the institution of marriage is as near as your thoughts. Through devotions, prayers, and regular worship he can constantly remind you of his burning love. Through the Holy Spirit he can give you the mind of Christ, which will soften your wills so God's kind of selfsacrificing love can become active in your lives. For only the love which is an event - the love that heals, forgives, strengthens, and restores - abides forever. Love which is active can make your marriage a thing of beauty from beginning to end.
We celebrate this day, this day of love, for today you are brought together and united in an atmosphere of charm and beauty. Our prayers will follow you, that living in God's glorious grace, and you may find your marriage growing in beauty as the years pass by. Amen
I think you would agree that almost every marriage begins beautifully; maintaining beauty in the relationship is infinitely more difficult. However, God has left you neither helpless nor hopeless. He has a great investment in you both, and his promise is that he will stand by you to provide you with his mercies, that your marriage might grow in depth and glory.
St. John writes of how God shares his love with us, but he also suggests how a marriage can develop an enduring quality of loveliness: "In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 1 John 4:9-11
Telling you, or any bride and groom standing before an altar, that you must love each other sounds as needless as commanding a three-year-old to eat a candy bar. After all, isn't that what marriage is all about - love?
The truth is, the kind of love John speaks of is far different from what people usually mean when they talk of love. Love is most often regarded as a romantic feeling, but for John, love is far deeper, more beautiful, and more consuming. John's love is not an emotion; it is an event. He refers to the kind of love God has for us. When God wanted to reveal his love to us in its most awesome wonder, he permitted his Son, Jesus, to be crucified. In the crucified Christ, God showed us he was willing to go further than anyone could be asked, in order to prove his love. It was on Calvary that God in Christ redefined love for us. God was saying that love is forgiveness; love is reconciliation; love is restoring, healing, helping: therein is love!
And so, _______ and _______, when John tells you to love one another, he is not saying something that is patently obvious. In reality he is saying nothing less than this: you are both dearly loved by God. Now he has given each of you the responsibility of bearing that sacrificial kind of love into your relationship. In other words, God's love and grace take human form as you care for and share with each other. That means the love you are to foster in your marriage is not simply a feeling, no matter how warm and affectionate, but an action. God's kind of love is always at work. It is not so much a noun as it is a verb. It is a love which works toward harmony and fulfillment. It is a love which grows out of the emotions of courtship to create charitable acts of compassion and kindness.
________ and ________, love will be evident in your marriage when you forgive one another. Love will be illustrated when there is healing and encouragement. Love will be practiced when you help each other and support one another. A love that works to help, heal, restore, and forgive, can make your marriage beautiful - exquisitely beautiful - not only for yourselves, but for all who are in your company.
Love is an event first demonstrated for us by our Lord who gave himself for us. Now he invites you, _________ and ________ to continue that self-giving love in your married life. It will not always be easy. The love which is in the shape of forgiveness will need to be practiced often; there is no other way for you to be truly happy.
And remember, the God who created the institution of marriage is as near as your thoughts. Through devotions, prayers, and regular worship he can constantly remind you of his burning love. Through the Holy Spirit he can give you the mind of Christ, which will soften your wills so God's kind of selfsacrificing love can become active in your lives. For only the love which is an event - the love that heals, forgives, strengthens, and restores - abides forever. Love which is active can make your marriage a thing of beauty from beginning to end.
We celebrate this day, this day of love, for today you are brought together and united in an atmosphere of charm and beauty. Our prayers will follow you, that living in God's glorious grace, and you may find your marriage growing in beauty as the years pass by. Amen
