Wedding Sermon on Ecclesiastes 3

A wedding couple asked for Ecclesiastes 3, which was a challenge. Here's my attempt:

This is a time to laugh, to dance, to embrace, to love.

But we all know that’s not the whole story.

Life is not always a bed of roses.

Even the best marriages, are not always ones of unbroken bliss.

In all our lives there will be times to weep and to mourn.

Our reading from Ecclesiastes reminds us that God rules over all of life, every time and season.

For the Christian, everything in life comes to us from the hand of our loving heavenly Father.

The hairs on our head are numbered.

Not even a sparrow falls from the sky without the Father’s permission.

One of the wonderful things about marriage is that husband and wife promise to be there for one another, come what may:

For better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health.

That’s a tremendous source of security and encouragement.

Faithful, unconditional love is one of the greatest things in life.

Even our imperfect marriages, give us glimpses of something divine.

The Bible often describes the relationship between God and his people as like a marriage.

God is the husband, who loves his wife, despite her wandering affections.

Christ is the bridegroom who lays down his life to win his bride, the church.

So the unconditional, faithful, life-long love of marriage is a picture to us of Jesus’ love for all who will put their trust in him.

One of the cries of Ecclesiastes is “vanity of vanities, all is vanity”.

Or in more modern translations, “meaningless! All is meaningless.”

Which would be a dismal message for a wedding!

Actually, both “vanity” and “meaningless” are bad translations.

A much better translation would be “vapour” or “mist”.

Life can be like a foggy vapour, a mist.

Life is elusive, we can’t grasp it.

We can’t make sense of it.

We cannot find out the beginning and the end.

Life is sometimes frustrating, like a chasing after the wind.

Often we can’t make sense of what God is doing in his world.

The Bible doesn’t offer simplistic, easy answers.

It sometimes seems an understatement to say that “God moves in a mysterious way”.

Yet our Bible reading says that to eat, and drink and enjoy the good is the gift of God.

In fact, all that we have is a gift of God, to be enjoyed with thankfullness.

God has set eternity in our hearts, and we’re intended for friendship with him.

Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him.

In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Life is not meaningless.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.

The writer of Ecclesiasties concludes:

“Remember your Creator…

Now all has been heard;

Here is the conclusion of the matter:

Fear God and keep his commandments,

for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgement,

including every hidden thing,

whether it is good or evil.”

Although there are lots of things we don’t know, in fact we do know the end of the story of our world.

The climax of history will be a wedding:

The marriage of Christ and his bride, the church.

Jesus loves us and wants to win our hearts.

He died, that the church might be his beautiful, spotless bride.

As we celebrate ______ and _____’s marriage today, may it remind us that Jesus invites us to a Marriage Supper, his own heavenly banquet.

Let us engage ourselves afresh to the Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful Bridegroom.

Today would be a great time to do that:

A time to embrace Christ, the pledge our love to him.