Christian Marriage
Sermon
BEST WEDDING MEDITATIONS
By Elmer E. Flack
(Meditation delivered at the marriage of the author's elder grandson)
Text: Romans 15:5--6: "May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (RSV)
This prayer of the apostle Paul seems very appropriate for this special occasion when a prospective minister of the gospel takes a mate for the manse. It suggests several thoughts.
1. Marriage is a gift of God. "Unless the Lord build the house, those who build it labor in vain." It is God who sets the solitary in families. "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." The family is the oldest social institution on earth. Luther called the family "the little church."
2. God desires harmony in marriage. God is a God of patience and consolation, of steadfastness and encouragement, who gives to husband and wife the grace to be likeminded, to live in harmony with one another, to share with each other the totality of life's experiences. His blessing makes for mutual accord. An Gottes Segen ist alles gelegen!
3. Christian marriage is a spiritual union. This is a great mystery, likened unto the union of Christ and his Church. Just as Christ loved the Church, so ought husbands to love their wives; and likewise wives, their husbands. This union in marriage is not primarily civic, nor physical, nor social, nor economic, but spiritual. In this union in accord with Christ love finds expression in mutual submission, forbearance, patience, kindness, respect, fidelity, and sacrificial suffering. Christ molds marriage into a garden of grace. The highest experience of single bliss and blessedness in no way transcends the holiness of Christian matrimony.
4. Christian marriage glorifies God. Paul prays that "together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Modeled after Christ's union with his Bride, the Church, Christian marriage bears witness to God's grace in Christ. The true Christian home is where "Christ is the Head of the house, the unseen Guest at every meal, and the silent Listener to every conversation." Such a home is a vestibule of heaven as well as a bulwark of the nation. It bears witness to the world how sublime and unselfish, how pure and holy, how tender and true Christian family love can be.
And when this home becomes a manse, the home of a minister of the gospel, it can stand as a mansion of Christian testimony, a model of true love. The minister's home does well to set the life pattern of witnessing for Christ with heart and voice, with word and deed, in mutual forbearance, forgiveness, fidelity, and love. We pray that this union now to be consummated with the holy vows may be in Christ such a model home consecrated for his service.
Paul's prayer is our prayer today: "May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Amen.
(Meditation delivered at the marriage of the author's elder grandson)
Text: Romans 15:5--6: "May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (RSV)
This prayer of the apostle Paul seems very appropriate for this special occasion when a prospective minister of the gospel takes a mate for the manse. It suggests several thoughts.
1. Marriage is a gift of God. "Unless the Lord build the house, those who build it labor in vain." It is God who sets the solitary in families. "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." The family is the oldest social institution on earth. Luther called the family "the little church."
2. God desires harmony in marriage. God is a God of patience and consolation, of steadfastness and encouragement, who gives to husband and wife the grace to be likeminded, to live in harmony with one another, to share with each other the totality of life's experiences. His blessing makes for mutual accord. An Gottes Segen ist alles gelegen!
3. Christian marriage is a spiritual union. This is a great mystery, likened unto the union of Christ and his Church. Just as Christ loved the Church, so ought husbands to love their wives; and likewise wives, their husbands. This union in marriage is not primarily civic, nor physical, nor social, nor economic, but spiritual. In this union in accord with Christ love finds expression in mutual submission, forbearance, patience, kindness, respect, fidelity, and sacrificial suffering. Christ molds marriage into a garden of grace. The highest experience of single bliss and blessedness in no way transcends the holiness of Christian matrimony.
4. Christian marriage glorifies God. Paul prays that "together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Modeled after Christ's union with his Bride, the Church, Christian marriage bears witness to God's grace in Christ. The true Christian home is where "Christ is the Head of the house, the unseen Guest at every meal, and the silent Listener to every conversation." Such a home is a vestibule of heaven as well as a bulwark of the nation. It bears witness to the world how sublime and unselfish, how pure and holy, how tender and true Christian family love can be.
And when this home becomes a manse, the home of a minister of the gospel, it can stand as a mansion of Christian testimony, a model of true love. The minister's home does well to set the life pattern of witnessing for Christ with heart and voice, with word and deed, in mutual forbearance, forgiveness, fidelity, and love. We pray that this union now to be consummated with the holy vows may be in Christ such a model home consecrated for his service.
Paul's prayer is our prayer today: "May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Amen.
