17-6-24, Dustin Katrina Dooley Wedding

Ephesians 5:22–33 ESV

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 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. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Ephesians 5:22–33 ESV

22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 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. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 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. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Ephesians 5

This passage talks about roles in marriage. Husbands are to love and sacrifice for their wives. Wives are to respect and follow their husbands.

But a bigger part of this passage reveals how the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman is a shadow of the covenant relationship between Christ and believers, the church. The Bible portrays Jesus Christ as the groom and the church as his bride.

A wedding and a marriage are the shadow of this heavenly reality.

So what we see in a wedding ceremony is a shadow of God’s loving, merciful pursuit of us in Christ. (Chandler, Mingling of Souls, 98)

Therefore, it’s important to give God so much glory on the wedding day because He is the author of the romance between a man and woman and the love between Christ and believers.

Therefore, it’s important to give God so much glory on the wedding day, to give Him credit for the entire romance from beginning to end.

Let’s look at some of the parallels:

1. There’s a time when a man notices a woman and falls for her. There’s a “Day of Epiphany” that happens in a groom’s heart. Something clicks, and he desires her. Not just physically, but he wants her to be his. He expresses his desire for a relationship with her. He reaches out to her. (Starts picking up heavy things around her?)

The man’s desire for this woman mirrors God’s desire in Christ for a people who will believe in Him. God wants a people of faith, who will trust in Him for everything instead of themselves. He loves individuals and reaches out to them.

2. In matters of men and women, you don’t have romance until the woman responds. Part of what we celebrate in weddings and marriage is that the woman’s affections were won by the man.

Her response reflects that Christ woos sinners away from the world, their idols, and away from their self-reliance, and into His tender and loving care. Christ calls us to Himself. The bride saying “yes” is a picture of the day we must say “yes” to Christ in order to be saved.

3. In the wedding ceremony, when the doors swing open and all the people stand and gaze upon the bride in her dazzling wedding gown, they traditionally see her in white as representative of her purity.

This statement about the bride by her dress is a reminder that every sinner who turns from their sins and comes to the Savior in faith is made spotless before His presence.

Isaiah 1:18 ESV

18 “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

In Christ, believers are pardoned for their sins against God and Christ presents us blameless and pure to our Holy God. By Him we are acceptable in His sight.

4. In the wedding ceremony, the couple make vows to each other because God has not just called them to profess romantic love to one another but to profess a particular kind of love, the kind that endures, that sticks, that commits.

It’s clinging love. Matt Chandler calls it the “I’m not going anywhere” love. Ahava is as strong as death. All the oceans covering the earth cannot drown ahava. It’s worth more than all the treasures of the world.

This love which husband and wife promise to one another mirrors the love Christ has for those who trust in His name. Christ isn’t going anywhere.

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“It’s not an option for me to go anywhere because Jesus would not abandon his bride.” (201)

5. A man promises to lead and sacrifice. The woman promises to trust and respect. Vows patterned this way reflect the truth of the gospel (99) and the relationship between Christ and the church. We recognize He has loved us and sacrificed Himself on the cross for us for us. The bride respects and follows her husband as believers are to honor Christ and submit to Him.

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5. A man promises to lead and sacrifice. The woman promises to trust and respect. Vows patterned this way reflect the truth of the gospel (99) and the relationship between Christ and the church.

6. The Bible’s advice to couples is to embrace the symbolism of the wedding as a picture of the gospel. Let the gospel be the center of the wedding ceremony. Let the gospel and the ceremony be at the center of the marriage. Marriage is the great reflector of that gospel. 99

For everyone here, married or not, Christian weddings bear witness to an invitation God makes to you, come to Him in a covenant relationship.

He is wooing you to Himself, give Him your heart’s devotion.

Let Him forgive your sin and present you as blameless and pure.

Let Him love you with ahava love, which you can never escape. Learn to love Him as He has loved you.

Let Him lead you. Believe He has sacrificed for you on the cross. Promise to trust and respect His rule in your life.

I’ve know Dustin several years now. When I first met him, it was when he would come to church just to humor his parents. I didn’t like preach to that side of the church because he would scowl at me. You could see the pride oozing out of him.

God made you to be with Him

Our sin separates us from Him

Sin cannot be overcome by your good works

Paying for your sins, Christ died on the cross and was raised

Everyone who believes and trusts in Jesus for salvation will receive it

Life in Christ begins right now and lasts forever.

I’ve know Dustin several years now. When I first met him, it was when he would come to church just to humor his parents. I didn’t like preach to that side of the church because he would scowl at me. You could see the pride pouring out of him.

Even though he portrayed that he had this life thing figured out and that he didn’t need God or the gospel, it turns out his life was pretty awful. He suffered with addictions, broken relationships, and deep-seated loathing for himself and others.

I want you to know that the Lord did not feel the same way about Dustin as he felt for himself. God loved Dustin and was preparing an incredible story for him. God reached out to him with love and acceptance.

I remember there was one night that Dustin was spiraling again. He was thinking about ending it all, but then something clicked in his heart and he thought, “what am I doing!” At some point that night he got a hold of his late granddad’s bible and started reading the underlined verses and the notes in the margin.

I remember Dustin saying a little while later, It was as if His granddad preached to him the gospel from his grave. During that night, Dustin surrendered, not his life, but his life. He gave up his pride and received the love and kindness of Christ toward him. He trusted in Christ and was forgiven and was made a child of God.

The next thing I know, that proud, angry, mess of a man was wanting to have dinner to tell me what had happened. He was wanting to be baptized the next Sunday so he could tell everyone that Jesus saved him from his sins.

Everyone here can attest to the 180 that Dustin has experienced. He wanted to make sure that I shared with everyone the gospel very clearly

You can have what Dustin has if you believe and trust...

It can start tonight by understanding