Wedding Sermon / Brett and Brieanne Pelzer / Colossians 3:12-17 - Pastor Ted Giese / Mount Olive Lutheran Church - October 12th 2019

Wedding Sermon - Colossians 3:12-17/ Brett Pelzer & Brieanne Engel / Mount Olive Lutheran Church / Rev. Ted A. Giese / October 12th "Content to learn and grow together in Christ"

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 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. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 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. 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.”

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in Your sight O Lord. Amen.

Grace peace and mercy to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Good Christian Friends. Commitment is one of those words: Some people hear it and run for the hills, the thought of it induces fear and claustrophobia, loss of individual freedom; while others hear it and stay the course, the thought of it brings peace and comfort, opportunity to build a life together. Brett and Brie have displayed great commitment to each other and stand before you today ready to dive deeper into a lifelong commitment, prepared to learn and grow together, to stand by each other in all circumstances.

The World is not a fan of commitment; it’s hard to sell someone the next new thing when they are committed and content with what they have. Often the World will start by creating dissatisfaction with the life a person already enjoys, small things: the house, the car, the vacation, the paycheque at work this is why Jesus warns, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”[1] Likewise we believe teach and confess that along with all the material blessings a person may have, whether that be a little or a lot, there is a gift God gives a man, a gift God gives a woman that’s worthy of thanksgiving and praise and that is a devout wife for the husband and a devout husband for the wife. What a precious gift it is when you marry a woman committed to her faith in Christ Jesus, what a precious gift it is when you marry a man committed to his faith in Christ Jesus. When a couple is devoted and committed to each other, devoted and commitment together to Jesus Christ, it is much harder for the World to drive a wedge between them as we heard from Ecclesiastes “Two are better than one, two will withstand [the hardships and temptations of life with more success than one alone. Then the passage continues to say]—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”[2] What is the third cord woven together with the two of you? That is Christ Jesus; He in turn is even more committed to you than you are to each other, ready to forgive even faster than you are ready to forgive each other. This is why St. Paul says, “[forgive] each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”[3] With the forgiveness of Jesus, won at the cross by the shedding of His very blood unto death and His Easter morning resurrection , the way of forgiveness then is opened up for you in your life together both as Christians and as husband and wife.

Brett this is why St. Paul says to you and to all husbands gathered here today, “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her [that is make her holy by His love].”[4] In your commitment to Brie be prepared to sacrifice your life as Christ sacrificed His for us all. This is done in part by the mortification of the self. Both husband and wife must do this as St. Paul says when he says, “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Do this for each other for the World daily uses the passions and the desires of the flesh with their anxious fixations focused on - the house, the car, the vacation, the paycheque at work - to ruin couples in an effort to erode commitment to God and to each other. It is hard therefore for the World to shake your commitment to each other and to God when the paycheque at work is just money, when the vacation is a holiday, when the car serves as little more than transportation, and ultimately when the house is not simply a building with a mortgage but rather when the house, by the grace of God, is a home. Much of marriage is learning this truth together.

Now Brie I’ve known Brett for many years and one thing I know about Brett is that Brett’s a good learner, now I know what everyone might be thinking, “that’ll come in handy since Brie is a teacher” and there might be some truth to that but the thing to really focus on is what I just said “much of marriage is learning together” – marriage is a good teacher if you are both good students. If you are willing to learn it will teach you to “put on … compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience [towards each other, it will teach you to bear] with one another,” and even more deeply than you do today - right now in this moment - marriage will teach you to “put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony,” these lessons are ultimately easier to learn when you together “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” Whenever you fail in your lessons turn to Jesus; for He is the perfect tutor to teach you the cost of love, the nature of sacrifice, and the fullness of commitment. For those blessed to enter into it Jesus uses Christian marriage to teach these lessons.

By the grace of God may you have every success in your studies and receive together the kind of passing grade so rare in the World: a lifelong committed marriage blessed with contentment and an unfading love for each other in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Let us pray:
Lord have mercy on us, Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us, “take our minds and think through them, take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire; for the sake of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Amen.

[1] Luke 12:15
[2] Ecclesiastes 4:9,12
[3] Ephesians 5:25–26a
[4] Galatians 5:24