Austin and Sara's Wedding
Notes
Transcript
(ask to stand when sara gets to bricks)
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today at this place and at this time to celebrate with Austin and Sara the completeness of their love. As we look to the Bible, the sacred Word of God, we see that marriage is a gift from God. It was God who created marriage, just as He created all things. It was God who first gave Adam a helper, Eve, who was to be his wife. God looks at the marriage between a man and a woman as something that is truly honorable. In this world, we often say that we love a lot of things but there is nothing quite like the love that exists between spouses. The only love that surpasses this love is the love that Christ has for His people. Without the love of God we would be empty people and lack the power to face life and its problems. Nor would we have any real hope for tomorrow.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, for the love and commitment one to another that brings Austin and Sara to this sacred event in their lives and in ours. We are grateful for the church which cares enough about those things that are sacred, those things that are basic, to provide an atmosphere where a man and a woman can in the company of witnesses commit themselves publicly one to another until the parting of death. We recall that before You ordained the church or any human institution, You ordained the home. Knowing the importance You place on Christian marriage and home, we do now ask that you would bless this service, these two who commit themselves to You and Your will, and all of us gathered to share their joy. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.
Ephesians 5:22-33 message
It is a privilege to stand before you all today to celebrate the love of Austin and Sara. I was Sara’s youth pastor for a couple months before she graduated, then she became one of my youth group leaders and I told her, and all of my students, “Hey the day you get married, if you ask me to do the wedding, I’ll do it.” And of course I said that not expecting anyone to actually ever ask me but here we are. Miracles really do happen. I remember when Austin and Sara first got together, May 28th, 2018 and I remember thinking, “Ya know what? There’s a chance I might get asked to do a wedding.” Here we are, almost 5 years later, celebrating their ongoing love for each other. Marriage comes from God so it makes sense that if we want strong and healthy marriages that we base our marriage on the Word that God has given to us. One of the great sections on love and marriage in the Bible is found in Ephesians 5:22-27. Here the Apostle Paul writes:
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. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
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.
Submit can be a heavy word. There are very few people who seem to like that word and yet that is the word that the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use when it comes to wives and their husbands. Sara, you are to submit to Austin but you are to submit to Christ first. While your husband is the head of the household, Christ is the head of the Church. Austin will never be your savior, Christ alone is your savior. You are to love and cherish him as Christ loves and cherishes the Church. But Austin, you are the one that has the more difficult task. As you submit to Christ, Sara will submit to you. You will not lord this submission over her, you will cherish her as the gift that she is. In God’s perfect plan, he has chosen to give this woman to you. He has entrusted you with one that has been made in His image and He is trusting you to lead her and love her. Submission can be hard but you are to love Sara, as Christ loved the church. You are to give yourself wholly to her, just as Christ gave Himself to the Church. You are to love her sacrificially, you are to love her purely, and you are to strive to love her perfectly. Why do you have the harder task? Because Christ’s love for His people took Him to the cross. Christ’s love was a perfect and sacrificial love that cost Him His very life and yet here we are as husbands called to love with the same love. Submission is difficult, but when the husband strives to love his wife with the same love that Christ has for His people, submission is no longer a chore, it’s a joy because wives, who wouldn’t want their husband to love them so perfectly? Love so amazing, love so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. We understand that no one is perfect for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We know that even as Christians, we don’t love perfectly and we don’t live perfectly. Ask any couple here and they will tell you that marriage is a marathon and not a sprint. It’s not always about how you start, it’s how you end. Here I am going into year 7 of my marriage and to be honest, I am finally starting to get an idea of what I’m supposed to do. There will be difficult times in your marriage, there will be moments where you may think of throwing in the towel and think, “is my life going to be like this forever?” but in those moments, remind yourself of Christ’s love for you and His people. Put Him first and your marriage will thrive. Put His commands first and base your love for each other on what He has done, and your marriage will thrive. Tim Keller wrote “Here’s what it means to fall in love. It is to look at another person and get a glimpse of the person God is creating, and to say, “I see who God is making you, and it excites me! I want to be part of that. I want to partner with you and God in the journey you are taking to his throne. And when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say, ‘I always knew you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on earth, but now look at you!'” May you both give each other glimpses on this earth of who God is making you to be. The kind of homes we need most are those where two lives are being drawn together by a holy love greater than their own. If your commitment has these dimensions, love goes on forever.
Vows
Will you please face each other and join hands.
Austin, would you repeat after me: I, Austin, take you Sara, to be my wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day. To care for and to encourage in both good times and bad. I promise to live for Christ and with you in the full awareness of trust and love, and with this commitment, I pledge to you my love.
Sara, would you repeat after me: I, Sara, take you Austin, to be my wedded husband. To have and to hold from this day. To care for and to encourage in both good times and bad. I promise to live for Christ and with you in the full awareness of trust and love, and with this commitment I pledge to you my love.
Ring Service
(Ask for the rings) These rings are a symbol of your commitment of love. They are formed in circles, expressing the unending dimension of your love and the eternal love of God: without beginning and without end. Share these rings now in the full awareness of Christ’s love in you and through you.
Austin, would you place this ring on Sara’s third finger and left hand? Hold it there and repeat after me: Sara, I give you this ring, as a visible token of my love, and I give it to you as my own life.
Sara, would you place this ring on Austin’s third finger and left hand? Hold it there and repeat after me: Austin, I give you this ring, as a visible token of my love, and I give it to you as my own life.
Prayer
Father, we come to you through Christ Jesus our Lord, the supreme manifestation of love. We come to praise and thank you for Austin and Sara. We rejoice in their salvation and commitment to the Lordship of Christ. We praise you for their public declaration of faith, love, and devotion to you and to one another. We are grateful for their families, their friends, and every person who has expressed their love in some way for these two as they have come together. We ask you Father that their home would so greatly exemplify Christ that others will be strengthened and encouraged by the godly light shining through their lives and from their home. Let them always remember Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. For we pray it and ask it in the name that is above every name, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing
Austin and Sara, today you have made a lifelong commitment to each other. You have made vows to one another and you have given beautiful rings as a public declaration of your love. Believing that it is your desire to have a happy home built upon the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it is my joy as a minister of the Gospel and servant of Jesus Christ to pronounce you from this moment on as husband and wife. What the Lord has made inseparable let no man separate. May the Lord bless you now and always. Austin, you may now kiss your bride. It is my privilege to introduce to you all for the very first time as husband and wife: Mr. and Mrs. Austin Ambrose.
(after everyone walks out, announce family will take photos and everyone dismissed to barn for cocktail hour)