This is a Christian wedding, a doorway into a Christian marriage. What is it that makes it a Christian wedding? It is not the fact that it is occurring inside a Christian church—because it isn’t. A Christian wedding can occur in a church, of course, but that is not what makes it Christian.
Sam and Miranda are both Christians, individuals who desire to follow Jesus Christ. But that fact by itself doesn’t make this a Christian wedding. A Christian couple could go to a justice of the peace to have their marriage registered, and it would be a wedding of Christians, but not a Christian wedding.
What makes this a Christian wedding is the fact that Christ is here as an invited guest. His presence has been sought; He has been invoked. Not only is He an invited guest; He is the honored guest. Now of course Christ is fully God as well as being fully man, and His Deity means that He is everywhere present—including in the office of the justice of the peace. In that sense, His presence cannot be avoided. An invocation is not needed to arrange for His presence in that sense.
But there is a different kind of presence, an acknowledged presence. His presence here today has been actively sought. Like all of you, Jesus Christ was an invited guest.
Now we know that if Jesus Christ is invited in this way, He will come . . . but how? He did not come down the street the way the rest of us did. He is not seated in one of these chairs. He will not eat or drink anything at the reception, and so what am I talking about? He is not present with us in that way. So how is He present with us?
The Bible teaches us that Christ manifests His presence in this world through two central means—by means of Word and Spirit. The Bible in my hands is the word of Christ. He is here because He is speaking to us here—through His Word. And the Bible calls the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Christ. This means that whenever He sends His Spirit to be covenantally present among His people, He Himself is present by means of that personal Spirit.
Jesus tells us expressly that the Scripture that has been written before Him was the Word of God (John 10:35), and Jesus also tells us that His apostles had the authority to speak words of Scripture as they went out preaching in His name (Matt. 10:40; John 13:20). And in ancient times, Peter tells us the Spirit within the prophets was the Spirit of Christ (1 Pet. 1:11). Paul says the same thing—“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9). The Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ are one in the same. We can see an even tighter connection between Word and Spirit when Paul refers to the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17).
And so here is the Word of God concerning marriage. God designed it, and presided over the very first marriage. “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27). And here is what we are taught about the Spirit of God in marriage. “Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth” (Mal. 2:15, ESV).
The Word of God, the holy Scriptures, say that God intended for a man and a woman to come together in just this way. It has happened millions of times, and it remains as great a mystery as ever (Eph. 5:31-32). What makes this profound is the word spoken over it, and not how many times it has happened. What makes it new is the fact that the Spirit hovers over this new form of creation, just as He did over the great deep in the book of Genesis.
The world around is amazing, and yet many are bored, finding it dull. But just as the Bible says that to the pure all things are pure, so also to the renewed all things are new. To the dullard, all things are dull. But God told the sun to come this morning, and He told the breezes to blow. He commands a young man to grow up in his father and mother’s household, and then He tells him to leave that household, and to take a wife. Each time that happens, it is an adventure. Each time that happens—to a new heart—the experience is like the break of dawn. It is the break of a new dawn.
So the Holy Spirit is here today and, Sam and Miranda, you have a portion of that Spirit in your union here today. What are you to do with this? Two things, which apply to each of you differently.
Sam, the prophet Malachi tells the ancient Israelite husbands that they had a portion of the Spirit in their marriage unions. But in the next breath, the prophet tells them to guard themselves in their spirit. The Holy Spirit is here, and you are charged to see to it that there is foundational harmony between your spirit and His. His Spirit is holy, and so you are charged to guard against any spirit of unholiness creeping into your home. You are being established now as a guard, a custodian, a protector. Stand guard faithfully. Do not allow your heart to be turned. You are standing guard outside a fresh garden, and you must be a guard who cannot be corrupted. You must not take gifts from outside; you must take no bribes. If you do, then your garden suddenly needs to be protected against its protector—an intolerable situation. So the two things you must do are these—first, you must hear this word to you today, which was written down by the prophet Malachi. And second, you must hear it by the authority of the Holy Spirit, who is upon you today. He is anointing this word to you, and so you must receive it that way.
Miranda, you share in this portion of the Spirit. You are an active participant in all of this. The Holy Spirit is upon you today, as He is upon your union. The word of Scripture applies to you as well. As Sam takes up the responsibility of providing for you and protecting you, so you need to take up your corresponding responsibilities. These are the responsibilities of being worth providing for and worth protecting. By this I do not mean that you attain to something “by works,” but rather that you respond to the goodness shown to you the way a true Christian does—and that is by “walking worthy of the calling you have received” (Eph. 4:1). You have received a good gift. Now respond to that goodness in the same way, by the same word, and in the same Spirit.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.