Wedding Sermon 2
Wedding Sermon
Colossians 3:12-17
June 21, 2003
“Wedding Clothes”
Introduction: Jerome, Becky, parents, family and friends, grace to you… I see that just about everybody is dressed up today as we witness and celebrate this special occasion where God is joining you, Jerome and Becky, together as man and wife, to become one in His eyes. Jerome, you are looking sharp all dressed up in your tuxedo and Becky, you particularly look radiant and beautiful in your bridal dress. These are the wedding clothes that you have put on to celebrate this holy occasion.
While these wedding clothes adorn your outward appearance they reflect for us the inner preparation that you have made with the help of God. In Colossians 3, read earlier, and chosen by you as it was by Jerome’s parents for their wedding, we read, “Therefore, as God’s Chosen people, holy and dearly beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…bearing with one another and forgiving one another…as the Lord has forgiven you. Over all these put on love…” These are the inner wedding clothes that you have put on in preparation for this day. These are the wedding clothes that you will wear everyday of your lives together.
Compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness and love. You have probably never thought of these as clothes before. Perhaps you will in the future. A person doesn’t often notice his clothes until he is standing without them, standing naked. And so it is with these wedding clothes. It will be apparent to each of you if and when you forget to put on your wedding clothes. When coldness replaces warmth and passion you’ll know that you forgot to put on your wedding clothes. When you become short with each other and neglect to be kind to each other, you forgot to put on your wedding clothes. When pride replaces humility as you latch on to the “I know I’m right” attitude, you forgot to put on your wedding clothes. When your patience runs short because that John Deer tractor seems more important than you do, or the dirt on the carpet has become a major crime, you forgot to put on your wedding clothes.
When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, turning against God and going against His will they saw that they were naked. In other words they saw there own shame and their own guilt…and it wasn’t pretty. God out of His great love made a sacrifice and made clothes for them. This pointed them to the time when He would make the greatest sacrifice, the giving of His own Son to die on the cross to bear the shame and guilt of all peoples sin, our sin, so that by believing in Him we would be forgiven. In so doing, God would put on us the eternal clothing of righteousness, rightness before God.
When one of you forgets to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness patience, that is when you must put on the most important clothes of all, forgiveness and love. As God has forgiven you, forgive each other. As God has loved you unconditionally, love each other giving yourselves in sacrifice for the other, each one of you giving your life for the other as Christ Jesus gave Himself for you.
In our reading from 2 John, the scripture chosen by you as well as by Becky’s parents at their wedding, God tells us what love is, “And this is love, that we walk after God’s commandments”. What are His commands? They are that we love Him in faith towards His Son Jesus for the salvation of our souls and love each other as a reflection of His love towards us. In these you will find peace for your hearts and minds.
Conclusion: Put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness patience, forgiveness and love. Put them on every morning of your lives and don’t take them off at night. You both look great right now but the tux you will return to the rental shop tomorrow and the wedding dress will be put in a box with moth balls to wait for another day. The wedding clothes that the Lord has given you, will make you handsome and beautiful to each other every day of you lives. Amen