Marriage (Part 1)

Why don't you open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 12?

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

And again, it's always an honor and a privilege to be behind this.

It's actually Pastor Danny's podium, but I have a lot of respect for him, for the years of service, for what he's given to this church that started with just a few chairs in here.

And I'm a benefactor of being poured into by him and his wife.

So I appreciate them and don't know if they're watching, so I don't even know if I get points for this, but we just love them.

There's always replays.

That's right.

You can watch it online.

I want to share, and I'm gonna get into the message, but this is a prayer request, and I knew about it yesterday.

A little boy in our neighborhood named Eli.

He's an eighth-grade student.

Um was over, he goes to Chelsea Middle School, and he's actually one of his brothers plays with Wyatt, my son.

Anyway, they got into a golf carting accident, a little boy flew off the golf cart, and um he he he's in a medically induced coma, last we heard, um, but just praying for swelling to go down and bleeding.

So keep that in mind.

Such a serious thing to happen, very scary.

Um, but anyway, pray for Eli.

Um in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, as we get there, um chapters 12 and 14 in 1 Corinthians seem to go together, and it's gonna be fun next week.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

If you look at it, it almost looks like a comma.

Chapter 12 and 14 would just be a comma, but there in the middle, chapter 13, is the chapter you hear it about every wedding.

Um, and it's like a love hymn.

I love Paul's writing style that we'll get to see in the next couple of weeks, how right in the middle of that he he places that in there.

But uh in chapter 12, we're gonna be looking at this morning.

Now, I've had an opportunity to officiate some weddings, um, and a lot of them teenagers that we had in our youth ministry um in Indiana, and um anyway, I try to, when I'm doing a wedding, do my best to make them memorable for the people that are involved, and I try to make it so that it's what they want of it.

And there's a lot of symbols used, guys.

I don't know if I'm loud to you, I'm loud to me up here.

So if you can turn me down a little bit, my wife's giving me the face, this one, which means it's too loud for her.

Anyways, so there's a lot of symbols in weddings, and um a couple of them that have been pretty unforgettable for me.

Um one of them was a couple named Micah and Casey, and as they were talking through their wedding, we got uh into some of the things they were gonna do, and they were gonna do a foot washing ceremony on their wedding, so on the stage, and we are gonna go up, and I I had some scripture that was gonna lead to the gospel as we talked about how Jesus served and washed the disciples' feet, and they get over there in the corner and they start their little ceremony.

They're off to the side over here, and I'm looking and watching, and they're they're using the rag, and I look over there and I'm like, they ain't got no water.

They have done a whole foot washing.

I mean, the best acting you've ever seen.

He's over there and just acting like he's wringing it out, and he did a great job of fooling us, but totally forgot the water.

And then, you know, they're washing each other's feet with dry towels.

And so I've never forgotten that one, um, you know, because it was supposed to be this beautiful symbol.

And if you didn't really know, you know, the inside of it, but then another wedding, uh I'm going through the symbolism of the ring, which you talk about in some weddings, and you know, how the circle is like eternity.

And anyway, I'm getting into that portion, and it's outdoor, and there's a lake behind us, it's beautiful, it's probably the most beautiful scene.

Um, and so as that's as I'm beginning to explain the symbolism of this ring, a speedboat is coming up behind us, and the speedboat is blaring music.

Oh, that's fine, okay, but this romantic moment, and it's deaf leopard, and it's screaming, pour some sugar on me.

And I'm like, this.

I'm so fighting my inner youth, whatever, of saying something smart and dumb in the moment, and just, I gotta get through these vows, I gotta say this right.

And I didn't, praise the Lord, I didn't, but I really wanted to say something dumb.

But marriage and all the symbols of it is a picture, okay?

It's a picture for us.

God could have chosen any portrait he wanted to paint before creation, but he chose for us to understand his love through a bride and a bridegroom.

His love for his church is pictured in marriage.

And so for two weeks, we're gonna talk about a marriage made in heaven.

I want you to understand it's not a marriage conference, it's really about the church, but also there's some parallels to marriage.

So as we dive in, let me pray and then we'll jump into the word.

Father, use the word.

Your word changes hearts, your word changes lives.

Lord, and I pray that we be drawn to what you have to say this morning.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

The background of the church at Corinth in chapter 12 is this that Corinth is a pagan city.

It's a port city, and there was a lot of wickedness going on at Corinth.

And so Paul, as he becomes fired up for God, he sees this wickedness, and that's just Paul's personality.

He says, This is a terrible place for a church.

I'm building a church here.

And so Paul goes off and says, This is where we gotta be, and goes and builds a church at Corinth.

Um, he's there.

He's kind of like the anti-Jonah, right?

If it's a terrible place to be, he's going.

Um, and so he builds his church, he leaves, and and the letter that we get here is sort of a response letter.

And so I like that about Paul because it seems like you know, he's a missionary, but he's rebellious.

This shouldn't be a church here.

I'm building a church here.

Bless God.

We're gonna do it.

And so we get this letter, and Corinth at the time of this letter is a train wreck.

Okay, it is a dysfunctional church body, it is chaotic, it's a mess, they're not organized.

And the funny thing about them is what they think they excel in is knowing about God's grace and the gifts.

And it's kind of like you ever watched the first week of American Idol exhibit A.

I think I can sing! And then the judges are like, nah, dog, let me tell you, like, singing's just not gonna be your thing.

You're never going to be a singer.

And so they think they excel in these gifts and God's grace, and Paul's rebuke in chapter 12 is about God's grace and the gifts.

And so we we find out here that there's this division in the church, and it's over partially the gifts, but it's really about spiritual people, and we're gonna dig into that, what that means.

But they think they're spiritual, but they're not really spiritual.

And so the first point as we dig in is the bride is bonded together.

Okay, I want you to understand this is a little bit of a background.

In Jesus' first coming, he betrothed every believer by the cross at Calvary.

On his knee, church, this is what he said to you and me.

He said, I love you and I've given everything that I can give to have you.

Down on his knee, he has this.

He says, I have paid the heaviest dowry one can play.

I've given my precious blood for you.

Will you receive me?

And so he says in Scripture that upon this engagement, he built a church.

Our body together, this engagement that we have is a church.

And he says, The church is a rock.

My church, the gates of hell won't prevail against my church.

Satan desires to sift the church as we, Scripture says, Satan hates our bond.

And so we're gonna see letter A under that is this the devil delights in division.

And we're gonna get into verses one through three in just a second, but I just gotta, you have to see this background.

Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, just a few uh pages back, and I want you to see at the outset of this letter the things that are said.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

Verses 10 through 12.

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions many among you.

Now I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ.

And then he says in verse 13, Is Christ divided?

Now look with me to chapter 6, verse 7-8.

You need to see these.

He says, This, this is happening.

So there's divisions, they're kind of getting into factions with one another within the church, and they're deciding, I'm with this group, I'm with Paul, I'm with Apollo, this is our group, this is our small group, this is the way we're gonna do church.

And so he says in chapter 6, he's continuing in the letter, he says, now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another.

Why do you not rather just accept wrong?

Why do you not rather just let yourself be cheated?

No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and then you do these things to your brethren.

And so there's this great division, and I want you to understand, church, Satan delights in division.

He hopes that in this place there will be division.

The Greek word for division is schisma, where we get the word schism, and it's it's a violent term.

It means like to rip a shirt in half.

That's what he hopes to happen.

And in the Corinthian church, they were split in these factions, vying for control of the church.

And so as you get into verse 1 through 3, let me read it, chapter 12.

Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I don't want you to be ignorant.

You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.

Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit.

And so there is this fighting from within, and that word gifts in the first verse, it's a masculine form of the word, and it's better read spiritual realities or even spiritual people.

So it's now concerning spiritual people or realities about them.

And so as he digs into this, he's saying, there is a fighting from within, there's a division.

And Satan delights in that.

It's like a few weeks ago, I took my, we have uh we had GMC Yukon and I took it down to the garage, and Heather had been telling me what's going on.

She says, It's like it's losing power as she's driving.

It's not it's having a hard time getting up hills.

And um, so I took it in trying to kind of be, you know, preventative maintenance.

I didn't, there wasn't a light on or anything like that, but uh so I took it in and it was there for several days, and I get a call, and there's they say, We can't get any codes.

Can you explain to me what was wrong?

And I said, Again, something inside of it was keeping it from having power, allowing it to progress like it normally did.

And he said, Okay, well, you know, I get a call the next day, and he says, We haven't been able to find any code, we've driven it, we haven't found any codes, and um you can come pick it up.

You know, I don't know exactly what they did.

They charged a couple of hundred dollars, I got it back, and then a few days later, the worst call you can get from your wife is this I'm on 280, and the car has stopped.

She's like, it's just putter out, it has no more power.

And I'm like, Are you kidding me?

And um, you know, it was the week that we had all the assemblies with the group, and I'm like, okay, I'm sorry, you guys got to do this thing, I'm leaving.

It's my wife.

It doesn't matter what else is going on, I have to go help my wife.

And so I get down, we get the car and we get it back down to the shop, and um, you know, they're asking me, What do you what's wrong?

And I'm like, I remember I brought it here and I was asking you, I'm not the mechanic, I brought it to you.

And uh, I said, something is keeping it from progressing, it's not able to have as much power.

And so, sure enough, they call me in two days and they said, Sir, something's wrong on the inside stopping it from progressing.

Something's wrong on the inside, it's not allowing progression.

I'm like, yeah, I paid you$200 the other week not to fix that.

It's the same thing, right?

And so, something is stopping it on the inside from progressing.

Church, listen to me.

That is Satan's delight.

To have internal division.

Something stopping from the inside from progressing.

Mark 3 25, Jesus said this a house divided against itself cannot stand.

If he can get into the church, he will divide it.

If he will get into your home, he will make it a war.

If he can get into your head, he will depress you and discourage you.

Why?

Because he wants to stop progression.

Y'all with me?

He wants to stop progression.

So if he can get on the inside, he will stop progression.

You can't be the bonded bride.

Listen to me, church.

You cannot be the bonded bride trapped in division.

It doesn't work.

Verse 2 and 3 shows us that the Corinth church was divided on doctrine, listen to these, and desires.

And I'll say doctrine and desires could be said this way: they're the majors and the minors.

Okay?

Doctrines and desires are the majors and the minors.

Doctrine is our majors, okay?

And Paul reminds them, he says, remember your pa, he says it pretty plainly.

You know that you Gentiles were carried away to these dumb idols, right?

Like, I like the way that there's rebellious Paul.

I love him.

You were carried away to these dumb idols, and he says, basically, in your pagan past church, if you had an issue with fertility, you would go to a fertility God and hope that he would, by you giving him a sacrifice, he would gift you with a baby.

The non-existent fertility God.

If you needed a yield of crop, you would go to a God that didn't exist, offer a sacrifice, and hope that he would gift you a crop.

If you were sick, you would go to a God of healing and hope that the non-existent God would bring you healing.

And so he's reminding them of their pagan past and what they did here.

And they were Gentiles.

They didn't grow up with the Torah and the law.

So he reminds them that they are confused about spiritual realities.

And so Paul in verse 3 reminds them of this, what their bond is.

Again, he says, I make known to you no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed.

And no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

In other words, he says, spiritual people do spiritual things.

And they ask this question Can other things happen apart from God's Spirit?

Can miraculous type of things happen apart from God's Spirit?

And he says, Yes, other people can do things, but it won't be by God's Spirit.

He says, There can be things that seem spiritual that aren't spiritual.

There can be people serving and it seems spiritual, but they're not living spiritually.

There can be fruitless works, and this is look-looking what it says in Scripture.

He says, Jesus says, Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

And in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles.

And he says, I will declare to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you who practice iniquity.

So what Paul means in verse 3, when he says, no one can say Jesus is Lord, he says, No one can say it and mean it unless they have the Holy Spirit.

That's our bond.

We are bonded in the Holy Spirit.

He said, Those who are changed by the Holy Spirit, they say it, they mean it, and they live it.

And if they mess up or fail, they ask him for forgiveness and they try to stick close to that.

They're not trying to work out of unfruitfulness.

And so Paul reminds them of their bonds.

So here at CCW, you look up at these walls, we have our majors listed for everyone to see.

We don't try to be ashamed, we don't back away from it.

Our majors are right on the wall.

Our majors are clear biblical truth, intimate fellowship, vibrant worship, and fulfilling service.

Those are our majors.

If you are divided on the majors, this isn't your church.

Okay?

It's just not.

If you're divided on those four major things, you probably don't want to stick around.

Okay?

That's the major.

And we have a covenant members class that goes over all of our beliefs.

And so before you join as a member, we ask you to go through that and see what it is and what we're about.

Those are the majors, okay?

And so we believe in the majors.

We live and die by the majors.

The minors are this the minors are desires, preferences.

If you don't agree on the majors, you shouldn't join.

It's okay not to agree on the minors.

It's better if you do agree.

It's okay not to.

Okay.

But the Corinthian church, they had it both.

They were divided over doctrine.

The four may they were divided on what it was, and then they were divided on all of this other stuff too.

So what are the what are the majors and minors?

I need you to think with me.

My wife, she likes old movies.

Okay.

Probably not too many people in their 30s in here that have Doris Day and Clark Gable in their collections.

Okay.

But I have that in my collections, okay?

Um, when I first met her, that was insanity to me.

You know, I'm like, what is this?

Like, this is what are we gonna go to the nursing home?

What are we doing with these movies?

But over time, okay, I need you to I need you to bear with me.

Over time, I'd sit and watch and I'd find out this is kind of funny.

Over time, I'm singing and tapping my foot.

I have never watched White Christmas till like four years ago.

Like, this is a good movie, okay?

This was a minor thing.

It was not where I was at.

It was not my preference.

That minor has changed for me because I have an open mind.

Are y'all with me?

Hear me out now because I have an open mind.

Music preferences in church.

Oh my.

We're not going there, are we?

Yeah.

Listen, I didn't used to like country music, but if they keep getting up and praying on these award shows, if they keep I love spiritual things, I might just have to start liking country music.

Okay?

Why?

Because my preference can change.

My minors can change.

Music in church is like, you know, until you get into the psalms, okay, until it's like this, until we have a dulcimer up here, Benji, a harp, a lyre, a drum, an organ, a flute, and a psaltery, then we really don't have the biblical psalm model.

Right?

That's what it says.

And then it says, David says, I play it loud, always loud, and somebody here's like, but Pastor, I don't like it loud.

Yep, exactly.

That's your preference.

That's your preference.

But Pastor, I don't like is a phrase that shows your preference.

Everything over time changes.

Okay.

Now, now don't get me wrong.

The gospel and the word, the majors don't change.

But everything else in the minors over time changed.

Nobody walked in here that I saw wearing something from the 1950s.

I I didn't see anybody.

Maybe the 90s, all right?

But not the 50s.

Okay?

I didn't see one person drive up in a Model T.

I'm just saying.

It'd have been cool.

I didn't see one person do that.

None of your houses, I bet, are decorated still in the 50s.

Right?

Or can we dare we go back to the 60s and 70s and the shag green carpets?

Y'all, there were some ugly churches in the 60s and 70s.

I visited them, they still hadn't changed some of it.

The pea green on everything, the pews are like, I don't know why that became a thing.

But everything in culture changes with time.

But we want to say there's some things that should never change in the minors.

Now the majors, yes.

Now listen to me.

I love a hymn.

If you got a hymn on right now, it could probably get me to tears pretty quick.

Something about the sound, something about those words.

I love it.

I do.

But I'm not married to a hymn.

I'm not.

I'm not married to that.

I'm married to Christ.

What about you?

I love the classics.

Look, I love Heather tell you on Sunday afternoon, I like to watch the show American Pickers.

Look, I don't know if it's real, I don't know if they made it up, but they find all this old stuff.

I love it.

I like it.

I like that nostalgia.

But Paul said this, and hear it please.

He said, I am become all things to all men that by all means some might be saved.

And we say, Well, I'm set in my ways, preacher.

Well, that's ungodly.

You don't get set in your ways.

In the majors, yes.

In the minors, you can leave room for change.

I love old movies because I loved that girl.

There was room for change.

That is not a statement in the book that I'm set in my ways.

You come to churches, and there's a if you stay long enough, there could be a seat preference.

Well, that's that's my aisle.

What are you doing sitting there?

Don't you know?

That's the memorial aisle, right?

You don't know, right?

Some churches have evening service, some don't.

These are minors.

If it's not in the book, it's not a major.

I'm not saying that opinions in the local body don't matter.

That's not what I'm getting at.

Okay?

Our local body is a composition, it's a symphony of individuals that make us who we are.

It's unique because we have you, but we don't divide over preferences.

Are you with me?

We don't divide on the way somebody likes to do this or the way somebody likes to do that.

That's a minor.

If you like to hunt, well then reach hunters.

If you like to fish, well then reach fishers.

If you like to shop, ladies, then create a small group and reach the shoppers.

I'm serious, Heather has started working for shipped, and I'm telling you what, Johnny could could could attest if he's working there.

All the people in publics love my wife.

Okay?

I can't get through publics now without 74 hugs.

Okay.

And she's what she's doing is using her thing.

She's using her thing to reach people.

That's a gift.

Your gift is meant to better the body.

It's not meant to divide.

Are you hearing me?

Division over your preference is satanic.

You're letting them get in your head, you're letting them want to divide you over something you got upset about, over something of a color, over something of your opinion.

If it's not the majors.

Now let me give you a parallel to marriage for the sake of your marriage, men and women.

Maybe you need to change a minor or try for the sake of your marriage.

How much do you love that person?

Listen, I'm not puffing me up.

I do puzzles now.

A very little bit.

But I sit there and I watch Heather do most of them.

Why?

Because I like to spend time with my wife.

Guess what she does?

It ain't all about me.

My wife will sit and watch UFC fighting with me.

Yes! Why?

She really does.

I don't think she loves it, or she doesn't make me think she hates it.

But I think she loves me and she'll go along with it.

Hello?

Why?

Because it helps our bond.

It helps the body.

Maybe your preference needs to have some leniency so it helps the body.

For the sake of the marriage, there was a story about Wesley who had a dream once.

He was ushered to the gates of hell and he asked some questions.

Are there Presbyterians here?

Yes, replied.

Are there Baptists here?

Yes.

Episcopalians?

Yes.

Methodists?

Yes.

The answer was astoundingly yes to all of them.

Very much distressed.

Wesley then ushered to the gates of heaven.

He asked the same question.

And the answer was, no, no, no.

To this, Wesley asked, Well, who then is inside?

And the answer was this only Christians.

Only Christians are in this place.

It's not a place for division.

Galatians 5, 14 and 15 says this, for all the law is fulfilled in one word.

Even this, love your neighbor as yourself.

The verse that follows, but if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed.

If you have a problem with someone, church, Matthew 18 lays it out pretty easily.

Look, and me and my wife have had to abide in that.

We've had to go to people's house and talk to them because there was ought.

And you know what has always happened?

It was done by the time we left the house.

There is no good in rambling on about somebody else to someone else.

Go to the person.

Don't take three months and get all aggravated and stirred up.

Go to somebody.

That's what Matthew 18 said.

This isn't my way, this is God's way.

But Satan wants to get in and get you complaining and get you divided.

That's what he wants.

Complain about anything.

Be divided.

Why?

Because it'll get in your head and then he'll divide the body.

So why?

It'll stop progression.

Letter B is this.

Satan delights in that division, but letter B, God, praise him, delights in diversity.

He delights in diversity.

Look at verses four through six.

He says it over and over.

There are diversity of gifts, but the same Holy Spirit.

There's differences of ministry, but the same Lord.

There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

Listen to me, church.

He created diversity.

He loves, listen, we we boast this that we're one of the most diverse churches in the region.

And we love that about this church.

God loves diversity.

He created it.

In Colossians 1:16, it says this for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible.

Colossians 1:16

All things were created through him and for him.

Listen to me, God didn't make a boring gray world.

Have you ever been to the paint store and tried to pick out red?

Y'all with me?

You ever tried to pick out red at the paint store?

174 reds, right?

You're like, and if you go home, I'd done this once.

I I tried to eye it.

I was gonna read, we were gonna repaint.

And I said, Well, that looks like the one.

Got it home.

Guess what?

Adrian was helping us.

He said, This ain't the right color, Pastor Rick.

This ain't gonna do unless you just want to change all of it.

Okay.

There's so much color.

There's so much diversity.

God made it.

Did you know there's over one million species of animals?

There's over 200 billion galaxies.

There's seven billion people living on planet Earth right now.

Do you think God likes uniformity?

He loves diversity.

It's on constant display everywhere we look.

And he didn't just create diversity, he created it diverse, but for you individually.

He created our gifts, he created our ministries, he created the activities.

That's what we just read.

He said, God, through the Holy Spirit, gifts his bride after our engagement party, and he says, This is what I've given you.

He send his Holy Spirit and say, You know what?

Darren's gonna have this.

You know what?

Lori's gonna have this.

You know what?

Judy's gonna have this.

I'm gonna give you a gift.

And he tells us why.

He says, I'm gonna give you a gift, and I want you to hear verse 7.

This is why you have the gift that you have.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

It's so that he manifests himself through you to the world, and it profits the whole body, he says.

It's so that I am seen.

The unseen God is seen through you.

That's why you even have a gift.

He left you with a mark of himself to show off him.

He said, I want you to be mine.

And I've given everything that shall be mine.

And I'm giving you this gift to show the world that you're mine.

I'm giving you this engagement so that you will show everybody that you're mine.

It's your mark of me to the world.

It's not so that you'll be divided and say, Oh, look at my gift.

Look at this, it's bigger.

This is better.

I am awesome, and you are nothing.

He delights in our diversity.

Diversity is the one true thing that we all have in common.

I'll say that one more time.

Diversity is the one true thing that we all have in common.

The second point is this the bride is one body together.

The bride is one body.

The bride in verse 12, it says this for as the body is one member or one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

So it's talking about the bride is Christ's church.

The bride of Christ is the universal church.

And so this is kind of a seminary term, but you use the word local church, which is what we're doing right here.

This is a local New Testament body meeting together for the fellowship of the saints, for encouragement, for bearing burdens.

And the universal church is the body every place, every believer in every place at all times that know Christ.

He says, I'm the head of that body.

So you have brothers and sisters all over the planet that are believers in Christ.

He says, It's my universal church.

They're all over, uh, but it's one body.

And so I want you, just for reference, to turn over to Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

He says, We're the body, we're we're Christ's bride and one body by submission.

We are one body together by submission.

And look at what it says in Ephesians chapter 5.

Ephesians 5 · chapter mention

Y'all know this church.

You know, you know this scripture, but it says verse 22 through 25.

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

The husband is the head of the wife, so also is Christ the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body.

Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be their own husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify, cleanse her with the washing of water by the word.

And so we see this picture that we're giving of marriage and the institution of marriage that God wants us to see, what he thinks of his church.

He says it's to be in submission.

For us to be bonded in one body, there has to be submission.

In a wedding, the wife always takes the husband's name.

And so in a wedding ceremony, we see a picture where there's a submission that now Heather finally met me.

She finally met Mr.

Wright.

Okay.

She took my name.

I was performing a wedding just a few weeks ago.

And I don't know, Wade's here.

Wait.

And at the end of the wedding, you're supposed to say, you know, by the power vested in me, I now, I'm gonna say it right this time, I now pronounce you husband and wife, and then you introduce them by their name, Mr.

and Mrs.

This would have been Wade Faulkner.

But I said, by the power vested in me, you may now kiss your bride.

Like I got some kind of kissing power, the ultimate preaching kissing.

Now give it to her, Wade.

That's not what I meant to do.

I meant to say it right, but what happens at the end of that wedding is now two are united as one.

Why?

Because in John 17, 22, we're given a picture of Jesus and his father.

He said, I and my father are one.

Why?

Because Jesus Christ submitted to the will of his father.

They were bonded because of submission.

Have you ever seen church, two people in marriage who seem to be in direct opposition to one another?

Have you seen this?

It's toxic, isn't it?

Fighting and yelling.

It's one person's desires and one person's over here.

And when they wake up in the morning, the the bell and the ring goes off.

Right.

And let me ask you this question.

Church, does it impact the kids?

Husbands and wives, listen to me, please.

You're being one body as a picture of Christ to your family.

Your being of one body as a picture of his church to the world.

Your marriage is a picture of church.

You may be the only church anybody ever gets because of your marriage.

Your being one body is a picture of wives.

So wives, the scripture says this submit and encourage.

Husbands, it says even more love, honor, protect, defend, and lead.

So that's our picture of being the church to the world.

The bride is one body also by companionship.

I want you to see John chapter 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

Go with me there for a moment.

John 15.

By companionship.

It says this, verses 1 through 5.

I am the true vine, and my father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away.

And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes that it may be even more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

Now listen to this.

This is the companionship.

Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit.

For without me you can do nothing.

Our companionship to him in John is pictured by this word abide, that in that chapter of John is listed eleven times.

Now, if Jesus chose to use a word eleven times, it's important.

Okay?

That word abide means remain in him.

Companionship in him.

It doesn't say come to Jesus for five years or ten years or twenty years.

It means forever remain.

It means to dwell.

By the way, couples, if you're not dwelling and remaining in companionship with others, listen, come on.

I can only be the youth pastor for Heather's children and at her church for so long.

I can only be the father, the baby daddy for Heather's kids so often.

There are times when I just gotta be with my wife and I gotta be able to dwell with her, her husband with my wife, and I've got to be able to gaze into those beautiful blue eyes and just look at her and dwell.

I've got to abide.

Man, look at your wife this morning and say, Abide with me.

Now women say, say, baby, abide with me.

Y'all, is it getting warmer here, y'all?

Benji, can we play a little Barry White?

You got some Marvin Gaye back there?

This reminds me.

There was a story to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

A couple returned to the site of their honeymoon hotel.

After retiring, the wife said, Darling, do you remember how you stroked my hair?

And so he stroked her hair gently.

She reminded him of the way they cuddled.

And so they cuddled.

And with a sigh, she said, Baby, won't you nibble my ear once again?

With that, the husband jumped up and got out of the bed and left the room.

And she said, Where are you going?

And he said, Honey, I've got to go get my teeth.

The bride is one body by companionship, church.

When we abide in Christ, he abides in us.

And when we as a body, listen, abide together, preferences aside, when we can just abide, the sweet Holy Spirit is found there.

And you impact the world because of that bond.

Now, if you have division, guess what?

You don't impact anybody.

In fact, what it does, in fact, is your own heart.

Makes you divide, it makes you negative, makes you complain.

The bride letter B is this the Holy Spirit's united conduit.

Again, verse 7 and look at 13 as well.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all.

Verse 13, for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body.

Whether Jews or Greeks, didn't matter.

Whether slaves or free, didn't matter.

And have all been made to drink into one spirit.

We are a conduit of the Holy Spirit to the world.

Don't miss this important truth today, church.

I think this gets to the heart for me of the entirety of the Bible.

Here is the point.

The reason you have a gift is your connection to an invisible God being seen by the whole world.

The manifestation of Jesus.

Church, that's the summation of the book.

Showing God and making him as seen as possible through the gift, through what he gave you.

He says, Make me be seen.

Let my spirit be seen through you.

And let me go to work and see this other brother, and it's seen through them.

And then I go to the market and I see this other sister.

And say, they all must be doing the same thing.

We're the conduit of the Holy Spirit.

That's why you have a gift.

I had people, a lot of teenagers, but some adults over time, and they will end up in my office and say, Pastor Rick, what's God's will for my life?

There's got to be something more for me.

Adult people, there's got to be another purpose.

And this is what it is, church.

Please hear me.

God's will for your life is not to build mansions.

God's will for your life is not to build bank accounts.

God's will, those things are fine.

He's not here to build your fleet.

He's not here to build your 401k or your vacation.

God's will for your life is that whatever you do, the way that you've been gifted, if you're a plumber, if you're a pastor, if you're a lawyer, if you're a construction worker, if you're at the market, is that you show Jesus.

He wants a relationship with you first so we're engaged.

And so we're engaged so that we can show him to others.

And so when we head out and we get out of this earth and end in heaven, that we take someone with us.

That's the whole purpose we're here.

That we glorify Him by showing him.

That's it.

That's it.

A manifestation of Jesus.

Your gift is for nothing more than that.

Now Satan will take it and he'll divide you over it.

If he can divide us, he'll divide us.

But God says, show me to others.

The Holy Spirit's work in the individual brings balance to the whole body.

And that's the third point this morning.

The bride is balanced together.

Look at verse 14.

For in fact, the body is not one member, but many.

The bride is balanced together, the bride thrives entwined together.

Genesis 2 24, in the very offset when Jesus brings in the institution of marriage, says that a man should leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, creating family.

Cleaving creates balance.

It's like, even this morning, Wyatt and Weston, my children, they can laugh so hard they make each other cry.

In fact, it happened this morning.

They were above my office, and this is what happened.

They were playing with a ping-pong ball, and Weston tried to blow it with his nose.

This is gross.

And Snock came flying out of his nose, and then I hear Wyatt just dying above me.

I'm trying to pray and be all spiritual.

And I hear this loud and I just want to see it.

I want to be with it.

And so they're laughing so hard.

And the other side of it, man, they could be fighting and fussing so much that they make each other cry.

But this I know when my kids unite on something, and when they are sweet and ask something from us, most of the time, if they come in that spirit, we'll melt.

But when they are divided about things and they are fussing about things, and one has this opinion and the other has this opinion, and they can't come together on something, I don't want to do anything for them.

I don't want to do one thing for all that fussing and fighting.

And so Scripture says, How much more does your heavenly father want to do good and give good to you?

If we're united, church, not if we're divided.

He delights in giving his children good.

God will bless this church body because of unity.

He will bless your home because of unity.

That's why the psalmist said, Behold, how good and how powerful.

Pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity.

It's a beautiful thing.

You are part of a marriage, whether you like it or not, if you're a believer.

You're the church, and the way you interact and use your giftedness makes the difference to a lost world.

Jesus is either seen or he's not seen.

Jesus is either lifted up or his testimony is hurt by your gift.

Winston said this about marriage.

Marriage is not 50-50 like people have been telling us.

Marriage is actually 100-100.

Who wants to be in halfway?

And in the body of Christ, you are needed 100%.

An old Peanuts cartoon.

Lucy demanded that Linus change the TV channels.

She threatened him with her fist and said if he didn't, he was gonna get it.

And he said, What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?

She said, These five fingers right here.

She said, individually, they're nothing, but when I curl them together in a single unit like this, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.

Lana said, Which channel did you want?

Turning away, he looked at his fingers and said, Why can't you guys get unified like that?

And so we see this picture of unity.

We thrive when we're entwined.

We thrive.

The body, letter B, thrives in equality.

Look at verse 15 and 16.

It says, if the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?

And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?

So what we see here is a picture that we're given that he gives us of the body, and he says, There's times where in people's giftedness, at least in this church, there were feelings of uselessness, underappreciation, comparison.

You know the death of contentment is comparison, church?

Let me say that again.

The death of contentment is comparison.

Looking at what somebody else does and saying, Well, why don't I do that?

Why don't people see this?

So there's these feelings of uselessness that we see.

And the next part, verse 17 and 18, it says, if the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?

If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?

But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He pleased.

Now hear that, just as He pleased.

So when we look at what God's doing, and we have a division about it, if we don't like the giftedness or we don't like the feeling we get or we're complaining, what we're doing is we're distrusting God's design.

It says God did as God pleased.

Now I want you to understand something today, church.

God's never made a mistake.

He's never once made a mistake.

And so the giftedness that he gave you is not a mistake.

It's exactly as he wanted it to be.

And he says, He made you with a purpose on purpose.

He did it the way he wanted to do it.

There's not confusion.

He's not in heaven going, oh, we messed up with that one.

That never happened.

He made you the way that he wanted to create you.

So when we look at the giftedness and we get all divisive about things, we're distrusting God's design.

The existence of a body depends on the diversity of its members.

If we say, I want to be like others, and it's not our function, that's divisive.

If we are the foot, man, thank God for feet.

Feet jump, feet walk, feet skip, they carry a load, but the feet can't hear.

Y'all with me?

Have you ever tried walking with your ear?

Right?

Have you ever tried hearing with your feet?

Maybe when you're a little kid, you put your foot up to your ear.

You have a function, and it's nobody else's.

And let me say this to you, church.

We need your function.

We need you because everything that we're doing is like me walking back and forth on this stage.

It takes every part.

I'm not even thinking about the parts that are moving, but it takes them all, and they all function to make the body move and progress for the name of Jesus so that we manifest Jesus to others.

And when you say, I'm not gonna do it, or I don't like the way that one does it, we divide the body.

How are you gonna walk without a toe?

Let me ask you, not real good.

Throws off your balance.

Have you ever had a body part of yours?

You probably say, I'm not doing it today.

Some of you are like, yeah, and it's a bad day.

Sometimes my body wakes up and my back doesn't, right?

You ever have a body part like that?

Say, I'm not doing it, I'm too tired.

I am not gonna be the arm today.

Mm-mm.

No way.

Not doing it.

I know you need it, but no.

The arm is not getting enough appreciation, so I'm not gonna be the arm.

Are you with me?

Church, we need your gifts.

Listen, this local body, I'm not talking about the universe or the gifts.

It's unbelievable what's needed in the church universe, but our local body, we have a list of needs right now.

We need people who will serve right now.

And what happens sometimes is people say, Well, I've done my time.

Or I don't have time.

No, that's your function.

Somebody else will get to it.

Benji, can't you use some more musicians and some singers right now?

I mean, can't we use some more help right now?

We need help.

We need you to use your gift.

Why?

God gave it to you to show him off.

So show him off.

Don't let somebody else do all the showing off.

Show off Jesus.

So the body will work together and we can walk together in harmony and meet our purpose.

Paul ends with a warning and an exhortation.

He says this in verse, we'll read 21 through 25.

But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.

And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you.

Listen to that.

Somebody that's been hurt here.

The eye cannot say, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

No much rather those members of the body which seem to be weak are necessary.

And those members of the body which think to be less honorable, on these we bestow even greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need.

But God composed the body, having given greater honor to the part which lacks.

Why?

That there should be no schism, no division in the body, but that the members should have the same, listen, the same, the same care for one another.

So he gives a warning, number one, never say you don't need.

Never say to someone in the body you don't need them.

Never, listen, the church, universal and local, has no place for we do not need.

It has no place for a prejudice, not in the body, not a racial prejudice, not a social prejudice.

It will not be at CCW.

We're never gonna look at a person's skin, their pay grade, their house, their car, their education.

We are the body.

We are the bride.

How can we say, I don't need?

So he says, Don't, don't you dare look on someone and never say, We don't need.

You need.

Our part matters.

It matters.

I want you to look at your neighbor and say, you matter.

Look at choice number two and say, you matter to me.

Now invite them to dinner at 5.30 on Saturday.

Go ahead.

Take action.

Let's bridge the divide.

5:30 Saturday.

What you making, chicken?

Go ahead, take action.

I'm serious.

Y'all think I'm joking.

Write down the number, the address.

Look, you might not do it after church.

Do it now.

The bride goes beyond this building.

Verse 25, it says, We are equal so that there should be not a schism, no division.

Why?

We are to care for every part.

We're not divided, and we care for everybody.

It does not matter your class.

It does not matter any of that.

That I already said, we care for everyone.

We have a statement I love to hear Pastor Danny say.

He said, We're not worried about your past.

We love your future, and God has a fantastic future for you right here.

We're not looking at all that stuff.

All that other stuff is division.

Lastly, the bride thrives in eternity.

The Latin word is this Sole Deo Gloria.

Sole deo gloria.

And that means for glory to God alone.

The final point from this text is that the aim of spiritual gifts is that in everything God might be glorified through Jesus Christ.

This means that God's aim in giving us gifts and in giving us the faith to even exercise those gifts is that his glory would be on display.

He wants the world to marvel at him and know that he's glorious.

Listen to me, the astonishing reality of God for people is all-encompassing.

For from him and through him and to him, the Bible says, are all things.

And there's nothing that we can do more thrilling or joyful or meaningful or satisfying than to find our place in eternity's unfolding of his glory.

You may think my gift seems small, but as part of the revelation of God's glory, it takes a staggering dimension.

It takes great depth.

There is not a small gift in the body.

God is revealed through his marriage to me and you, his bride.

I want to close with a little story about a bride.

Many of you have heard the name Johnny Ericsson Tata.

Johnny is a quadruplegic who was paralyzed in a diving accident as a teenager, and she goes back and talks about her wedding day.

She says, I felt very awkward.

My girlfriend strained to shift my paralyzed body onto my chair and into a cumbersome wedding gown.

She said, No amount of corseting and binding, my body gave me a perfect shape like I dreamed of that day being.

The dress just didn't fit well.

It was almost like I wasn't even meant to be in a wedding dress.

Then as I began wheeling into the church, I glanced down and I noticed that I accidentally ran over the hem of my dress, leaving a greasy tire mark.

My paralyzed hands couldn't hold the bouquet of daisies that I had.

They laid off center on my lap.

My chair, even though it was decorated for the wedding, was still a big, clunky, gray machine with belts and bearings and gears.

She said, I certainly didn't feel like the picture perfect bride in a magazine.

I inched my chair closer to the last pew to catch a glimpse of Ken in front.

There he was, standing tall and stately in his formal attire.

I saw him looking for me, craning his neck to look up the aisle.

My face got warm and flushed.

I suddenly could not wait to be with him.

I had seen my beloved.

The love in Ken's face washed away all of my feelings of unworthiness.

I was his pure and perfect bride.

Church.

How easy it is for us to think we're unlovely.

Especially to someone as lovely as Christ.

But he loves us with the bright eyes of a bridegroom.

And he cannot wait for the day we're united with him.

And we, even though we may feel unattractive, frightened, paralyzed, imperfect, have wild hope for the day that we become one with him.

I know that we feel inadequate and unworthy because our eyes become unfixed.

And if we listen to one word of Satan's attempts to discredit our merit, we know that we don't merit it.

It's not anything we have to do.

But the wedding one day will bring about a transformation.

I want to ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes.

You see, the the blood that was cleansed, that came from him, healed our brokenness, healed our sin, and we become the bride of Christ, not just in theory, but in reality.

And together one day with our church brothers and sisters, we'll taste the taste of a new kingdom.

Church, today, this time of invitation, you are the bride.

You're the one he's always wanted, and the one he's always loved, and no amount of stain, no amount of darkness, no gears, no bolts, no mess of a dress.

Nothing that you bring to table will stop him from peering out, looking down the aisle, saying, I love my bride.

I've given all for my bride.

I want you, my bride.

He says, I will love you with an everlasting love.