Wedding - James and Brittany Riggins

WELCOME

We are here this afternoon to witness the union of James Riggins and Brittany Farley in marriage.

On behalf of the couple, I would like to thank you for joining them for this special day.

I would also ask that you commit to praying for them and their marriage - that they would be rooted firmly in Christ and that their marriage would display godliness to a watching world.

You may be seated

GIVING THE BRIDE - ***Audience stands as bride enters

**Who gives this woman?  **Do you give your blessing upon their Union as husband and wife? **Do you now release Brittany from the watch care of your family to establish her own home with James as her husband?  **Do you commit to pray for them as their marriage grows? ** James, please receive your bride. 

FAMILY PRAYER TIME

At this time, I want to invite James’ and Brittany’s families up to the front.

We are going to enter into a prayer time where their families will pray over them and their marriage.

I would invite you to pray silently, in Jesus’ name over these two as their families pray.

INTRODUCTION

I love getting the honor of officiating weddings because I have the seat closest to the action.

And I get to play a part in the Lord bringing a man and a woman together to become one.

But specifically, I love officiating weddings where I know the couple.

I only met Brittany when she and James were recently engaged, but as we met for premarital counseling, I was blessed to get to get a peek into who she is and what makes her tick.

She has a deep love for those around her - particularly those who do not yet know the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is this love of others and love of God that drives her to pour herself out so that others might be able to get a glimpse of the savior.

It has also been awesome to see her heart for James, how she is able to understand all of what I call his “James-isms” and how she has sought to prepare herself to become his wife.

Brittany, I am pumped to watch James marry the girl of his dreams today!

James, I have known since 2009 or so - and have done everything from travel the globe to pouring out my blood for him.

One of my favorite memories of James was when I got to baptize him and 60+ Ugandans in a swamp in the sticks of Uganda.

I became the main course for every leech in the place, but I would do it again in a heartbeat - both for James and for the story.

It has been a great honor to watch James grow from a goofy kid who was just trying to figure out what his life was all about to now a goofy man who is leveraging his life however he can to be used to build the Kingdom of God.

James, I am proud of the man that you have become and I am honored to call you my friend!

Now the Lord is going to take you both into His harvest field as a cohesive unit - no longer two but one.

I am committed to praying with you and for you as your relationship grows

And, I want you to know that Cammy and I are always available for you as you navigate this thing called marriage.

MESSAGE

Your marriage is not primarily about you - It’s about the Gospel

What I want all of us to understand today is this… James and Brittany’s marriage is not primarily about them - It’s about the Gospel of Jesus!

You see, He is the designer and author of marriage - and the reason we are here today.

He has established a framework for what marriage is supposed to look like for us.

Marriage is supposed to be a proclamation of the gospel.

James and Brittany’s marriage will be about proclaiming the good news of a God who wants to be intimately involved in our lives.

While this day is significant for both James and Brittany, their chief desire is that Jesus be the centerpiece of the day, and that His Gospel be known.

To this end, they want everyone here and whose watching to have the opportunity to hear this Gospel that has transformed their own hearts and lives.

This gospel is not something that simply compels them to attend church, or serve others, or pray.

This gospel is the very foundation and framework of who James and Brittany are as individuals- it’s their identity first and foremost - before anything else.

What do I mean when I say gospel?

The word gospel means “good news”.

In the book of Luke, when the angel appeared to the shepherds, he said “I bring you good news of great joy, that will be for all people.”

This good news is the truth that God had come to rescue people.

It’s the news that you and I can be counted as righteous before an almighty God and experience the love of a more perfect father than we could even imagine.

It’s the truth that Jesus Christ came and died to save the broken and sick - and that everyone who accepts Him is gifted with His righteousness - and accepted by HIM!

The Apostle Paul in the first chapter of Romans said this about the gospel “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith.”

He then says in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

Today, while it is important that you witness this special day for James and Brittany, their desire is that you walk away knowing the source of their own hope and peace - Jesus Christ.

Following Jesus is not a call to religion and rituals and you are not given a list of good deeds that you must perform in order to be saved. .

The way I would illustrate this is James doesn’t buy Brittany flowers so that she will love him… He buys her flowers because she already does love him.

It’s the same way with the Lord - we don’t try to live a certain way so that He will love us, we live that way because He does.

Believing the gospel is also not a call to simply commandeer the name of Christ and never be changed in your heart.

It is not a call to be perfect, and He never expects you to be.

It is a call to relationship with Him - a relationship that transforms your heart and changes you in every conceivable way.

Sin

The first thing that must be understand is our brokenness.

Each of us carries with us this weight of sin that alienates and separates us from God.

We all feel this - whether we want to admit it or not.

It is that desire to keep hidden those things that we know would bring shame upon our lives

Its the dark corners of our life that we want to keep hidden because of how people would view us if they knew.

Its the brokenness that leaves us under condemnation.

Romans 3:11 makes it clear that none of us choose the Lord, but rather we choose destruction.

Because of this, we stand under divine punishment - the wrath of God - that when realized at the end of our lives results in eternity separated from Him in hell.

Jesus

But God, being loving and desirous of a relationship with us, loved us enough to rescue us from this sin.

John 3:16 tells us that God sent His only Son Jesus Christ who is fully God and fully man to come and live the life that is demanded to be accepted by God - and He was the only one who was able to do that.

It also tells us that if we believe in Him, we WILL be saved.

Jesus was subjected to a punishment that was more suited for the most heinous of sinners - for people like you and like me.

He was beaten and crucified, and the Lord placed the full weight of His Wrath on Christ for the sin of mankind.

And in the most tragic event in human history, Jesus Christ, the only perfect person who has ever walked the earth was killed mercilessly.

He was buried and raised on the third day - effectively conquering Satan, sin, and death - allowing us to be presented as holy if only we call to Him in Faith.

When we respond to God in this way, he takes every ounce of our sin and brokenness and places it on His Son and takes every ounce of Christ’s righteousness and places it on us.

When we believe in Christ, we stand before God, confident and bold, not as a slave or hired hand, but as a child of God.

Responding Now

The beautiful part about this truth is that you can respond to it right now - and you do not need me, you do not need a priest, you don’t need a list of good deeds to outweigh your bad ones… you just need Jesus!

Confess your sin to Him, confess that you believe that He lived and died according to the Scriptures and that He was raised on the third day.

Call out for His salvation to be applied to your heart, and thank Him for saving you.

If you call to Him in faith, He WILL save you, and He WILL transform your life.

If you made that decision, you need people who will encourage you in your walk with HIM.

It takes a village to raise a spiritual child.

Get in Christian community.

Find a Jesus loving, mission focused church and become a member

Talk to James and Brittany about the decision you made and allow them to walk with you.

I can assure that if you came to know Christ at their wedding, it will be one of the major highlights of their day - so please share that with them!

How marriage is connected to the Gospel

First: Marriage was created by God, FOR God.

Unless you get this into your head and heart, you will likely not experience the depth of blessing that can be found in marriage.

Without this understanding, marriage will be reduced to simply existing for whatever benefit each person can gain.

This is a significant reduction of what God would desire for marriage.

James and Brittany, you are getting married today not solely for your own satisfaction, but rather for God’s glory to be seen.

Your satisfaction takes a backseat to God’s Glory - and your marriage is not about you - it’s about Him.

When you both put God’s glory as your highest aim in marriage, the personal satisfaction will come, but we cannot get this out of order.

Second: Christ calls the church His bride.

The church is anyone who has called on Jesus Christ for salvation by placing their faith and hope in HIM.

Scripture refers to those people collectively as the Bride of Christ.

Christ is our bridegroom, and He comes to gather us up for HIMSELF.

His pursuit is for our heart, much like James has pursued Brittany’s heart.

When someone comes to know Christ, they are given a new name and welcomed into His family as His own.

Brittany, when you take James’ last name, it is simply an earthly copy of us taking Christ’s name when we were saved.

James and Brittany, as you step into this covenant of marriage, you should seek to model your marriage on the example that Christ has set for us with the church.

The Apostle Paul has deep wisdom for us about this that we can find in the book of Colossians 3:12-17

Colossians 3:12–17 ESV

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I want to draw out a three key points that will serve you well in marriage:

First, Forgiveness

The first two verses drive hard towards this idea of forgiveness - using words like bearing with one another.

What does this tell us about relationship?

It isn’t easy…

So many people have a fairy tale narrative playing in their minds about what marriage is all about.

You see, the beauty of marriage isn’t summed up in “happily ever after”

The beauty of marriage is displayed when sin and brokenness is met with grace and forgiveness, rather than wrath and retribution.

The beauty of marriage is displayed through compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

I am going to let you in on a little secret…

In order to be given the opportunity to live this out, conflict has to be introduced into the picture.

Those moments of conflict provide the opportunity for your forgiveness to shine.

And what is this forgiveness supposed to look like?

Paul clarifies at the end of v. 13 - as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

Let’s dig into this a bit, because it is the key to making all of this work.

We must forgive as He forgave us.

The natural question is how did He forgive us?

He saw our brokenness

He came to live with us, in spite of that brokenness

He gave himself up, by dying a sinners death on a cross as punishment for our brokenness

He rose from the dead on the third day, proving Himself to be stronger than our brokenness

He gave us his own righteousness in exchange for our brokenness

So now, instead of seeing any of our sin and shame, the Lord sees us as completely innocent and cleansed from our sin.

We are welcomed into His family, without strings attached.

And He knows that we are going to blow it again, and again…

James, Brittany, your job in this marriage is to die to yourself for the benefit of the other.

Hold nothing against one another, and let forgiveness abound.

Second, Thankfulness

vv. 15-17 mention being thankful in our hearts for others.

See one another as God’s most precious gift - aside from your own salvation.

v. 16 describes the thankfulness that we should have for one another as driving us to sing songs to God because of the other one.

James, there should be a song of praise ringing through your heart and soul for Brittany.

She is about to become the bride of your youth, your beloved, your helper, your lover.

Don’t stop singing to God about her - and thank Him often for this amazing woman that He is blessing you with.

Brittany, there should be songs of praise ringing through your heart and soul for James.

He is about to become your husband - the one who the Lord has tasked with loving your soul and the one who will spend the rest of his life discovering how beautifully the Lord has wired you.

James is the one who God is entrusting to lead your family through the minefields of this world.

Don’t stop singing to God about him - and thank the Lord often for this amazing man that He is blessing you with.

Interestingly enough, Paul says all of this right on the heels of the forgiveness piece - which at first glance seems odd.

In essence, it sounds like he is saying - this person is going to make you mad and sin against you, but you need to forgive them AND… Be thankful for them.

It is in the moments where we are extending forgiveness that we need to be reminded most about being thankful for our spouse.

You see, in those moments where there has been a fracture in our marriage, deep gratitude for one another will be fuel that will drive forgiveness.

It is when we allow bitterness to overrun the thankfulness that forgiveness begins to wane and the drift will begin.

Overflow with thankfulness for one another so that it might fuel forgiveness

Third, - It’s all about HIM.

v. 17 says - whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Let’s ring this one-note song again… your marriage is not all about you…

Marriage is not simply meant to fulfill some deep internal personal need

If this is what you are looking for, then you will fall far short of God’s design for marriage.

The purpose of your marriage is to magnify the name of the Lord.

You have an opportunity to share the gospel with everyone around you through your marriage.

You will be able to display how two broken sinners are able to love one another with an other-worldly love that doesn’t quit.

The grace in your marriage is meant to point to a bigger and more profound grace, found only in the forgiveness of God through Jesus.

Whatever you do - whether in word or deed, do it in the name of Jesus

Whatever you do in your marriage - do it in the name of Jesus.

It’s all about HIM.

Let me clarify something here - this does not mean that you are to forsake any possibility of joy and self-fulfillment in your marriage.

In fact, quite the opposite.

When you make your marriage all about Jesus, then you will experience more joy and self-fulfillment than you would ever hope to experience otherwise.

How is this possible?

Because the Lord is a good, good Father who wants us to experience the joys and satisfaction of relationship - because remember, it points back to Him.

The joy we experience in relationship in marriage is meant to point us to an even better joy, found in the Lord.

VOWS - James first - Brittany Second

At this time, James and Brittany are going to exchange vows that they have prepared themselves.

These are the promises that they are making to one another.

With the Lord’s strength, they will live faithfully with one another and thereby bring glory to the Father.

James, Brittany, at this time, please share your vows with one another, starting with you, James.

BLESSING OF THE RINGS

James and Brittany are exchanging rings as a symbol of the covenant that they have made. Although small, these rings are made of precious metals and are in a perfect circle to signify the preciousness and ongoing nature of your covenant. The rings do not make you any more or less married, they are simply a reminder to you of the covenant promise that you have made to God and each other.

EXCHANGE RINGS

James place Brittany’s ring onto her ring finger of her left hand

Brittany place James’ ring onto his ring finger of his left hand.

“I offer you this ring -- as a symbol of my vow -- and my promise -- to love you unconditionally -- for the rest of our lives. -- Wear it as a reminder -- of the covenant -- that we have made today -- before the Lord -- and our friends and family.

Communion and Prayer Time

James and Brittany will be taking communion as a part of their wedding.

When believers take communion, it is in obedience to what Jesus told His disciples at the last supper.

1 Corinthians Chapter 11 tells us that:

on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

As James and Brittany celebrate the Lord’s supper and pray together, it is yet one more declaration that they want to have their marriage built on the foundation of Christ and His Word.

As they do this, please pray silently where you are for their marriage to thrive.

After they are finished sharing communion, you are invited to join us in a time of worship.

Worship is a time when we can ascribe the glory to God that is due His name.

James, Brittany, please do that now.

Marital Charge

Before we close, I want to give you a marital charge or exhortation

Together, Keep Christ at the very core of who you are as a married couple.

It is for His glory that you are standing here today.

Remember that your marriage is not primarily about your happiness or your fulfillment - it is for the Lord’s glory.

If you are devoted to HIS glory, He will bring fulfillment and happiness.

But not as this world brings fulfillment and happiness.

it will be a fulfillment and happiness that will be based on HIM that doesn’t fade.

James, my charge to you, as the husband, and the Biblical head of your household is this:

Discover how to be a servant leader to Brittany, and one day to your children.

Fight to become the Christ-centered shepherd/pastor of the little flock that the Lord entrusts you with.

Be the one who is most concerned with providing your family with fertile soil in which to grow in the Lord - making biblical community, worship, and service a priority and not an afterthought.

Spend the rest of your life trying to find out how you can better love your bride and elevate her.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with you.

When the Lord wants answers about the spiritual condition of your family, He will come to you - not Brittany.

This is a heavy load to carry, and dare I say, and impossible load to carry on your own.

You will need to rely on the strength of the Lord, and the fellowship of Christian community which will empower you to glorify Him in this role.

Brittany, my charge to you, as the wife is this:

You are becoming James’ biblical helper as described in Ephesians 5.

You will be the most uniquely gifted person on the planet to help James as he seeks to live out the will of the Lord.

James’ leadership is designed to operate at its best when you are functioning as his biggest supporter, advisor, counselor, lover, and friend.

Resist the temptation to get out in front of his leadership but also fight the urge to stay quiet when you know you need to speak up - but do so with respect and love.

While the Lord comes to James to get answers about the Spiritual condition of your family, He holds you accountable for being the best helper you can be - and thus bring glory and honor to God.

Guard James’ heart and lean on the Lord to give you the wisdom required to fulfill your calling as his bride.

CLOSING COMMENTS

Now we come to the fun part…

By the power entrusted to me by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I now pronounce you, husband and wife, James you may kiss your bride.

PRESENTATION OF THE BRIDE AND GROOM **Audience Stands**

Would you please stand - May I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. James Riggins.

INVITATION TO RECEPTION

On behalf of James and Brittany, I want to invite everyone to a reception immediately following.

The reception will be taking place at Jones Creek Ranch - the address is in the wedding program

When you arrive, make it a point to get to know someone you don’t already know and sit with them if you can at the reception.

If you are immediate family, I would ask that you remain here for pictures when everyone else dismisses

That way there will be proof that you actually showed up to their wedding.

Thank you again, you are dismissed.