Wedding Blessings, Part 2

I also had the pleasure of serving communion to Paul and Jess during their wedding ceremony. Here are my remarks:

C.S. Lewis once wrote: “When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. In so far as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving toward the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all.”

We see this in families where the good of the children has being given priority over the good of the marriage. What happens is that the marriage becomes neglected and fragmented. And the couple who neglects their marriage for the sake of the children ends up not only threatening their marriage but hurting their children because what is best for their children is for the children to have parents who are there, who are together and who are thriving in marriage.

So it is in your relationship with God. If you pour yourselves into each other and neglect to pursue intimacy with God, you will ultimately end up hurting your marriage because the best thing you can do for your marriage is to walk closely with the Lord.

Jesus need not be your only love, but He must be your first love.

When you abide in Christ and you abide in Christ, not only do you have fellowship with the Lord, but you have a spiritual intimacy with each other that is probably one of the most precious things you can experience as a married couple.

You have found the right partner, but you must strive for the right union.

As you know, if you want to follow Jesus, you must do what He would do. Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. We read in Ephesians that we are to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Jess, it says that wives should submit to their husbands as to the Lord. But, Paul, you are not getting married to be served but to serve and to give your life up for Jess by providing for her and caring for her and loving her as you love your own self. By doing so, you will earn the respect of your wife and her trust as you lead your family to walk in the ways of the Lord.

Just as Paul and Jess worshiped the Lord together on their first date, so they want to worship Him together here now. And so we come to the Lord’s table to remember the ultimate act of love and sacrifice. We come to enjoy the presence of the Lord. We come with thankful hearts because His body was broken and His blood was spilt in order to cleanse us of sin and make us whole again. And we celebrate the fact that He is risen and coming again for His bride, the Church.

As Paul and Jess partake in communion and the music plays, I’d like to invite you all to contemplate the love of Christ for us and to pray that Paul and Jess would be able to imitate the love of Christ in their marriage always.