Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 - Two are
better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For
if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he
falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again,
if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm
alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against
one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly
broken.
1 John 4:16-19 - So we have come to know and
to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever
abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By
this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for
the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There
is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do
with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We
love because he first loved us.
Matthew 19:4-6 - He
answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning
made them male and female, 5 and
said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast
to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So
they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined
together, let not man separate.”
Grace, mercy and peace to you from
God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear friends in Christ, especially on
this day, Matt and Kelly. It was
Saturday September 21st, and I had never seen Matt so anxious to be done with the opening day of Duck Season. The birds had been flying fairly well, but he couldn't wait to be done. He kept hinting that we should pick up the decoys and head in. "But its opening day!" I said. Finally the truth came out. "I've got an appointment with the jewler to buy a diamond ring." That's when I knew that this day would come.
And so today here you are. And as we just heard, Solomon says that two
are better than one, and he doesn’t mean two heads is better than one, or that
one bird in the hand is better than two in the field, or any other thing. He means it is good for you to be together,
united as one flesh, until death do you part.
It is good for you to be together,
because, as he says, when one of you falls, the other can lift them up. So when the difficulties of this world come,
and they will, time and again, the two of you might prevail together. So when the money is tight – the two of you
together will be able to overcome. When
one of you is sick, the other can care for them. When one is struggling, the other can care
and love them.
That’s what you promise today – for
better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health – that you
two will stay united to each other only, until one of you departs this
world. That until that day, you two will
be better than just one of you by yourself.
Except we know that in this sinful
world this promise is easier said than done.
We know that marriages fall apart all around us. That sometimes two people in love is not
enough in this world.
And that’s why our scripture ends
with words not about two, but about three.
It doesn’t say two people can make it by themselves in this world,
because God knows that can’t be garunteed.
It doesn’t say, two people by themselves, can overcome everything. Instead it ends with the words, “A cord of
three strands is not easily broken.”
Three? Why three?
Because as God speaks through these words he knows that you will need
him as well as each other. If two are
good, three are even better, especially if one of them is God. God will be there when you both are at your
wits end. God will be there when you
both are tired and grumpy, or even those days when you might argue about
leftovers. God will be there when hours
at work are long, and you hardly see each other. God will be there when Matt Jr. is born, and
even as you both head towards “‘til death do you part.”
God will be there, just as he has
been there for you in the past. He’ll be
there for you with forgiveness earned by Jesus on the cross. He’ll be there for you with grace that can
cover all guilt and sin freely. He’ll be
there for you to sustain and comfort you as you go forward in life. Two is better than one, and with God’s
promise, you will be together, the two of you, for many happy years ahead. And it won’t be only because of you, but
because of the grace of Jesus. Yes two
are better than one. But we can say
today, and for the rest of your married life, that with God, a cord of three
strands is not easily broken.
God’s blessings on many happy years. Amen.
