Sermon Tone Analysis

At almost every wedding at Concordia begins with this Address:

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and before His Church to witness the union of this man and this woman in holy matrimony.

This is an honorable estate instituted and blessed by God in Paradise, before humanity’s fall into sin.

In marriage we see a picture of the communion between Christ and His bride, the Church.

Our Lord blessed and honored marriage with His presence and first miracle at Cana in Galilee.

This estate is also commended to us by the apostle Paul as good and honorable.

Therefore, marriage is not to be entered into inadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, deliberately, and in accordance with the purposes for which it was instituted by God.

It goes on but you’ll either have to get married here or attend a Lutheran wedding for the rest.

Today, we talk about marriage, more specifically we will talk about faithfulness.

The opposite of Marriage

There is a problem in our world where we recognize marriage but we don’t recognize its opposite.

I’m willing to bet that most of us would immediately think the opposite of marriage is singleness.

This is false because as Isaiah 62 points out, we are all betrothed.

The opposite of marriage is not singleness, it is unfaithfulness.

Just as humans are made in the image of God, indeed we bear His persona and gifts to the world- marriage, and faithful living, portray the devotion of God to us.

I know this sounds somewhat different but it really is what the biblical story details for us.

Psalm 128 talks about the faithfulness of God:

If we use this as the meter for how long God is faithful to us, what is the answer?

God is faithful beyond what we could think or imagine.

This then, reframes why we are somewhat particular about what we do with our bodies and our souls both inside and outside of marriage.

Incidentally, in Dante’s book ‘inferno’ do you know what the bottom level of Hell is reserved for?

Betrayal.

In this eternal torment- which is not biblical but still holds some truth, those who have betrayed God or another are constantly duped into believing they can climb there way out of Hell only to realize that it was a false promise.

Thus perpetually suffering from… Betrayal.

In another book, much more recent.

Moral Psychologist Jon Haidt at NYU formed what he called Moral Foundations Theory, in which he outlines the 6 axis of virtue and vice that are common to every society.

He starts with Care vs Harm and works his way down to Loyalty vs. Betrayal.

Our God wants to make it abundantly clear to us that He is faithful and will never leave us abandoned.

Thus we remain faithful to Him and TO EACH other.

Our whole lives, whether we are married or single are about being faithful to the one who is faithful to us.

When we are unfaithful to our God, when we betray Him we betray ourselves too.

The natural consequences of betrayal are readily available; things like abandonment and abuse are outside the boundaries of God’s will for our lives and are demonstrations of infidelity.

What we may not recognize is how infidelity in life disrupts the abundance of life that God desires.

Let’s put it in financial terms.

If I put just $5 month in an average mutual fund every month for 30 years, at the end of it I will have put away about $1800.

With compound interest it’d actually be worth $6800.

That’s just $5, less than the price of a pint and for less time than an average marriage.

I believe that the wedding at Cana in Galilee is a demonstration of this abundance we have in Jesus.

It is a sign of new life found ONLY in Him and how He Himself provides it.

The promises of man run out but the Word of the Lord endures forever.

I want to be clear here.

We are NOT, decidedly not talking about some sort of prosperity gospel.

God has not promised to give you unending premium wines.

We have to refill our keg of communion wine just like everyone else.

What God HAS promised us is that we will see His gifts in this world.

This is what the Psalmist is after.

Commentator Derek Kidner rightly asserts that v. 1 of our Psalm can be summed up in two gifts from God: Obedience and Order

Obedience comes from fear, love and trust.

I love my wife and thus I try to do what she asks of me and when I fall short I do have fear about what damage I have done to our relationship.

I also am sad because it is not what either of us want for our relationship.

Christian obedience is more than just fear, it is a desire to please and honor another.

Obedience calls us into this next virtue.

Order.

Christians are people who recognize that our world is still under the command and Control of God.

Thus we are orderly, somewhat predictable people.

GK Chesterton talks about how orderly God is in that every night he tells the moon to rise and then fall as the sun comes up.

He orders our days.

Paul exhorts the church in Corinth:

When someone trusts their God the way we do, it is entirely predictable and stable how we will act.

We are not prone to erratic and transient whims like fidget spinners.

Marketing holds little sway over us because we know faithfulness is more important than a fad.

I just listened to a in interview with the director of marketing for HBO, and they were on the hunt for a new sound logo.

They had one that was this noise of squelched static for about 30 years and thought they needed to update it but with something different.

After spending a ton of money and time they realized that they couldn’t replace that previous sound because people had such a strong memory affiliated with it.

They realized that they had been SO faithful with that noise, that they had built up such a strong following affiliated with a little 10 second clip that to change that noise would be to betray their brand and their followers.

Friends, that’s a simple, small, little thing.

It is incredibly insignificant in the duration of time.

HBO will be forgotten in a lifespan.

Think about all that God has done for humanity across eternity.

In something as simple as a wedding running out of wine, Jesus is capable of providing and He does.

Friends all of our life is a reflection of the one who is faithful to us.

We are the Children around His table and as our Heavenly Father He feeds us and nourishes us into life everlasting.

Be faithful to God.

He is faithful to you.

Amen.