Faith, Hope, And Love
Sermon
Wedding Sermons And Marriage Ceremonies
Listen to these words of encouragement from Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13 (TEV):
Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill--mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.
Love is eternal... What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete - as complete as God's knowledge of me.
Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.
Sometimes when I read this passage, I think, "Nothing like stating the obvious, Paul. Of course, love is the most important thing." Love is what brings you here today, (Bride) and (Groom). We all know that. The two heart--shaped candelabra speak of the love that shines out from you for one another.
We know that faith is part of why you are here, too. To have faith in something or someone is to trust. It is obvious that you both do trust each other. Your faith in one another has grown stronger as you have already stood by each other through some rough times.
We know that you have hope, too. As you make your promises today, behind all the words are all your hopes for the future: hopes about careers, hopes about where you will live, hopes about how your relationship will grow and flourish, maybe even hopes for a family someday. Those hopes are so important. They will help to keep you moving into the future, instead of getting stuck in the mistakes and disappointments of the past.
So, if faith, hope, and love are so obvious, why does Paul even mention them, and why do we bring his words up here?
Two reasons. One is that it is a lot easier to talk about faith, hope, and love than to live by them. I think that is why Paul gets down to the nitty--gritty about love. His words help to bring it back down from candles and hearts to real life, as if to say, "Okay, (Bride) and (Groom), after all the candles are extinguished and the hearts go back to the florist, here is what real love looks like: it's being patient, humble, considerate, unselfish, and truthful." Not very glamorous, is it? Sounds like hard work, doesn't it? It is! But it is worth it!
There is another reason Paul talks about love. Not only does he want to bring it back down to earth. At the same time, he wants to point our attention back up to God. Because the kind of love Paul was talking about is more than romantic love, greater than even the warm companionship that is so special between lifelong partners. Paul is talking about a love in which you actually forget yourself and are willing to sacrifice life itself for another person, just as Jesus did in going to the cross.
In ordinary people like us, that kind of love is nothing short of a miracle. It is a gift which becomes part of us only by God's grace. To have that kind of self--giving love takes faith in more than yourselves. It requires faith in God: faith that God exists, faith that Jesus Christ is proof of God's sacrificial love, and faith that God can give you the ability to love each other at that higher level. Such love will bring a different kind of hope to your marriage, too: a hope that simply cannot be put out, no matter what happens in the years ahead. Even death can't extinguish this hope, because God's love shown in the Risen Christ points us to life beyond death.
(Bride) and (Groom), my prayer for you is that you will seek God's most excellent gift of love for your lives, and so discover those things that are truly eternal: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
Love is patient and kind; it is not jealous or conceited or proud; love is not ill--mannered or selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs; love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail.
Love is eternal... What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete - as complete as God's knowledge of me.
Meanwhile these three remain: faith, hope, and love; and the greatest of these is love.
Sometimes when I read this passage, I think, "Nothing like stating the obvious, Paul. Of course, love is the most important thing." Love is what brings you here today, (Bride) and (Groom). We all know that. The two heart--shaped candelabra speak of the love that shines out from you for one another.
We know that faith is part of why you are here, too. To have faith in something or someone is to trust. It is obvious that you both do trust each other. Your faith in one another has grown stronger as you have already stood by each other through some rough times.
We know that you have hope, too. As you make your promises today, behind all the words are all your hopes for the future: hopes about careers, hopes about where you will live, hopes about how your relationship will grow and flourish, maybe even hopes for a family someday. Those hopes are so important. They will help to keep you moving into the future, instead of getting stuck in the mistakes and disappointments of the past.
So, if faith, hope, and love are so obvious, why does Paul even mention them, and why do we bring his words up here?
Two reasons. One is that it is a lot easier to talk about faith, hope, and love than to live by them. I think that is why Paul gets down to the nitty--gritty about love. His words help to bring it back down from candles and hearts to real life, as if to say, "Okay, (Bride) and (Groom), after all the candles are extinguished and the hearts go back to the florist, here is what real love looks like: it's being patient, humble, considerate, unselfish, and truthful." Not very glamorous, is it? Sounds like hard work, doesn't it? It is! But it is worth it!
There is another reason Paul talks about love. Not only does he want to bring it back down to earth. At the same time, he wants to point our attention back up to God. Because the kind of love Paul was talking about is more than romantic love, greater than even the warm companionship that is so special between lifelong partners. Paul is talking about a love in which you actually forget yourself and are willing to sacrifice life itself for another person, just as Jesus did in going to the cross.
In ordinary people like us, that kind of love is nothing short of a miracle. It is a gift which becomes part of us only by God's grace. To have that kind of self--giving love takes faith in more than yourselves. It requires faith in God: faith that God exists, faith that Jesus Christ is proof of God's sacrificial love, and faith that God can give you the ability to love each other at that higher level. Such love will bring a different kind of hope to your marriage, too: a hope that simply cannot be put out, no matter what happens in the years ahead. Even death can't extinguish this hope, because God's love shown in the Risen Christ points us to life beyond death.
(Bride) and (Groom), my prayer for you is that you will seek God's most excellent gift of love for your lives, and so discover those things that are truly eternal: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
