morning and welcome to the broadcast of the Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls.
To help you follow along, the Order of Worship for today's service is available under the radio tab on our website, ZionLCMSCF.org.
The Lord bless you today through the hearing of His word.
Of course, of our readings today, we will in Ephesians 5 be listening to the introduction to what follows, and that is that beautiful conversation Paul has with the Ephesians about the relationship of husbands and wives copying the marriage of Christ and His beautiful bride to church.
Further more, in the Gospel reading, we will hear about that great wedding feast to come, the party, the wedding reception for all eternity,
Throughout our prayers today, you will hear the sprinkled references here and there to marriage and to the wedding feast itself to that end when you thought it was safe.
Page 315, front of the hymnal.
Under Home and Family.
Page 315.
Under Home and Family.
Second prayer, beautiful prayer.
We're gonna pray that prayer together.
In advance of our service and to focus our thoughts for those who are married, prayer number two, page 315.
Together, most gracious God, we give thanks for the joy and blessings that you grant to husbands and wives.
Assist them always by your grace.
that with true fidelity and steadfast love, they may honor and keep their marriage vows, go in love toward you and for each other, and come at last to the eternal joys that you have promised to Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
you
As you're able, please rise.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Beloved in the Lord, let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God, our Father, beseeching him.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who grant us forgiveness.
Our help is in the name of the Lord.
Amen.
I said I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord.
Well, mighty God, the merciful
Father.
and for the sake of a holy,
and
Son, Jesus Christ,
merciful
me, a poor, sinful being.
On this, your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you.
And instead, by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
On the yellow
insert.
We have thought.
You're right, and it is filled with righteousness.
Let Mount Zion be even.
Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of yours.
The Lord be with you.
And with high spirit.
Let us pray.
Lord, grant to your faithful people pardon and peace that they may be cleansed from all their sins and serve you with a quiet mind.
You, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and drains with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Please be seated.
A parting invitation from Isaiah chapter 55.
Come everyone who thirsts come to the waters and he who has no money Come buy and eat come buy wine and milk without money and without price Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me and eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food incline your ear come to me
here that your soul may live.
And I will make with you an everlasting covenant.
My steadfast, sure love for David.
Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander for the peoples.
Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and of the Holy One of Israel.
for he has glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near, let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him, and to our God for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts.
Neither are your ways, my ways, declares the Lord.
Whereas the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
This is the word of the Lord.
Please turn to the gradual.
from the epistles, from Paul's letter to the Ephesians, as indicated before the fifth chapter, preceding the great section on marriage, we read, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time.
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery.
But be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything.
to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
This is the word of the Lord.
Please rise.
Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew the 22nd chapter.
Jesus spoke to them in parables saying, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
Again, he sent other servants saying, tell those who were invited.
See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered and everything is ready.
Come to the.
wedding feast, but they paid no attention.
One went off, one to his farm, another to his business.
Well, the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.
King was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
Then he said to his servants, the...
Wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy go therefore to the main roads and invite to the Wedding feast as many as you find and those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found both good Bad and good so the wedding hall was filled with guests But when the king came in to look at the guests he saw there a man who had no
Wedding garment and he said to him friend how did he get in here without a wedding garment and he was speechless And the king said to the attendants find him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth or many are called You chosen this is the gospel of the Lord
We confess the Christian faith in the words of the Nicene Creek.
I believe in one God, Father almighty,
maker
of hyponeria,
and of
all things visible and
invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, light of life, very God of very God.
be caught and not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things remain, who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man,
crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate,
spirit.
And the third day he rose again,
according to the scriptures and ascended to heaven and sits
at the
right hand of the Father.
And I believe that I'm a holy Christian and that's a solid church.
I acknowledge all the practices of the mission of the saints and I look for the resurrection of the dead and
come.
Here.
That was a big mistake.
Please turn to page 275.
And by the way, you want to keep your hymn a lot because we're going to go through the vows, the commitments later on.
But I want to introduce the theme for the day.
By the way, it also picks up a theme.
People sometimes say, well, what do you do at pastor's conferences?
I'll give you a taste of that coming up here.
Under Dearly Beloved, second paragraph, first line.
We read in marriage, we see a picture of the communion between Christ and His bride, the church.
I want you to think about the last stanza you just sang, to explain, to teach and explain.
Well, this is part of it.
The union of husband and wife in heart, body and mind is intended by God for the mutual companionship, help and support that each person ought to receive from the other both in prosperity and in adversity.
Marriage was also ordained so that a man and a woman may find delight in one another.
Therefore, all persons who marry shall take a spouse in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust, for God has not called us to impurity.
But in holiness, God also established marriage for the procreation of children who are to be brought up in the fear and instruction of the Lord so that they may offer Him their praises.
Stick your thumb there, your bookmark, one of the ribbons, but don't put it away, we're gonna visit that in a little bit.
To that end, and with that in mind, grace and peace, you from God our Father.
and from his Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
Marriages aren't made in heaven.
If you were under that delusion, I hate to disappoint you, but I can say this, they were surely designed from thence as we confess in the Apostles Creed, and I can say even more from before the foundation of the world.
Marriage here on earth is a model, a mirror, a copy.
of Jesus Christ as Lord and head of his beautiful bride the church.
The imagery is there sprinkled in both testaments.
You heard some of it, only a smattering of it today in our readings.
And one of our pastors in chapel devotions at the pastor's conference made a thought and spirit-provoking observation.
He says, I want you to think about something.
As we go back into Genesis, just as God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and took a rib from his side from which he fashioned his bride Eve.
Just so it is that when you get to the cross, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Jesus in death and a Roman spear pierced his side and out flowed water and blood.
Biblical memory is working right now.
You will remember that St.
John used that very image in his first epistle, the fifth chapter, to say, spirit, blood, and water.
That is the substance of the church, God's beautiful bride here on earth, bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ worth far more than silver and gold, as Peter would also say.
Now, our human copies began with the creation of man and woman on the sixth day.
and let me be concrete about that, that is the union of one man, x, y, male, and one woman, x, x, female, into one flesh, and that is what defines marriage, not what we have going on in our perverse and perverted culture.
And in a real way, human marriage also witnesses something else here on earth.
It's sort of a reflection of the nature of God.
Now, to be sure,
Adam and Eve were created in perfect righteousness and holiness, but just give some thought to this.
Where on earth would you come up with this idea that you could take a plural and make a unity out of it?
Two distinct persons and call it one.
Go back to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
There you have a trinity of persons reflected in the duality of Adam and Eve, who are both distinct persons, and yet what does it say?
In marriage they are
one flesh, and I think God must have his sense of humor on display with that.
Here, I'll give you something to think about if you want to think about God and the way it is between the two of you.
Now, the focus of each and their unique creation defines them, and I'm going to say it by gender.
In Genesis chapter two, you see the creation of Adam, solo at the time.
Remember how God
made him the prototype of all humanity.
Now, whether you see a watusi over seven foot or a pygmy under four feet, guess what?
They all look human.
They come in various colors, sizes, at least two genders, and all kinds of other things you can say about them.
And as a matter of fact, from the Pastors Conference, if you want to know the distinction between Adam and Eve coming up, there are 6,500... 6,500...
genetic differences between men and women to date, and I found that astounding.
But Adam was the first.
He is the prototype.
Then God says, here you are.
You've got some work to do.
And he said about identifying all the living creatures by kindred, apparently by family and not species.
And later on, he will in fact change woman's name to Eve because she was, as Scripture says, the mother of all the living.
His task specific take care of the garden now people I cannot tell you what it would be like to work all day long and hard at the end of the day say Why that was refreshing?
I think I'll do it again in five minutes because what work without toil and sweat is I don't know and I've not run across anybody else who does But may I suggest to you in Genesis chapter 2 you get the orientation of Adam structure prototype
Identity and task orientation.
Structure, identity, direction.
No.
We get acquainted with the nature of Eve from the side, so to speak, when she is tempted by Satan and Genesis 3, verse 6 in particular.
Isn't it interesting?
that the Spirit of God would actually take us into the mind and thinking of Eve as she was actually considering the temptation.
It tells you something about her and who she is at her core.
Watch her thinking.
Listen to her as she gives regard to the visual offering that Satan put before her.
And we read, so when the woman saw that the fruit was good for food and it was a delight to the eyes, notice it is Eve who is placing the value.
on the tree and its fruit.
And that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, now she's giving meaning to that tree and its fruit.
She took some of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate the sharing of the fruit he's relating to the nearest person closest to her, albeit the sum total of one and her husband, Adam.
Value and relationship.
Structure, identity, and direction.
That's head business, the meaning, value, and relationship.
Heart business, if you will.
Equal, pulling.
Opposite?
Absolutely.
Both two halves that make the whole.
Differing from one another only in authority and responsibility because when God comes into that garden it is an Eve he's asking about, who's he looking for?
Gentlemen, that's your responsibility.
There's, you get your taste of the headship.
Now, he says, go, pill my footprints.
Biology and gender identity go hand in hand so far in 6,500 different ways.
And we need to say those things and repeat them to our children just as we sang in the last verse of our hymn.
Keep them before our eyes, our children's eyes, and in the public eye, twisted and perverse as it is, this is what marriage is, and this is what gender means.
One man, one woman, united into one flesh.
No.
You got sense of humor again.
There's one thing you will not find in Genesis 1, 2, or 3, any kind of marriage manual.
God seems to have been of a mind, go ahead, have dominion over the earth, fill my footprints, and oh, by the way, this marriage thing, you'll work it out.
Well, that's fine if you're perfect, but how many of you husbands and wives have noticed that occasionally you hit a bump in the road now and then, you know, years apart?
Well, instead of a marriage manual, what God does give us is His grace.
his inspired word and the powerful tool of forgiveness from him to us and through us to each other.
Grace, mercy, forgiveness, peace with God, the opportunity to rebuild and start over refresh all complements of that precious blood of Jesus Christ.
Now, to be sure, and this needs to be said, not everyone necessarily marries.
There are a variety of circumstances for that, duly noted in the Old Testament by the lips of Jesus and also from Paul, specifically in 1 Corinthians 7.
He says, if you marry, you don't sin, if you don't marry, you don't sin.
But there must have been some special circumstance at that point where he encouraged, hey, maybe at this time because of the circumstances, likely persecution.
You may want to consider what you're doing, but that's the only reservation.
Otherwise, and I unfortunately have heard this from some people, I don't want to get married.
Why do I want to share my career, my wealth, and my life with absolutely anybody else?
Pray God that doesn't settle on anybody you know because there's somebody who's heading for a shipwreck in life.
Now.
But Luther encourages, and he picks up from the scripture, when you're looking for a spouse, you want to find one who is pious.
Now, we got to go back to the Friede Hochdeutsch, the early New High German of Luther, the word pious we tend to think of in terms of religiosity, right?
But for Luther, it was more concrete in that day.
You want to find someone who is competent and capable of carrying out
that office to which they are going to be called as husband or wife.
And after that, and I wish I knew what brought people together, and I've heard some amazing stories, we call it the chemistry of love.
And there are some crazy ways that people have come to know each other.
One of them that I know, the strangest of all, is he literally, along with his friend, picked up two nurses off the street in Indianapolis
During an absolute thundercloud burst, there were nurses coming off of their shift with no place to stand.
And so Sam says to Crystal, if you trust us, get into the Model T and both couples live happily ever after.
Unlike Hallmark movies, all caught up in love, defining marriage as a relationship.
And by the way, we had an interesting conversation.
downstairs during Bible class some time ago.
I said, have you noticed that in Hallmark movies the guys are all props?
And somebody said, I won't mention any names.
Yeah, but Pastor, I like happy endings.
Okay, I get that.
Marriage is a God-ordained institution in which you relate to one another.
And if you doubt that, look at the four, fifth, and sixth commandments, right?
Home, life,
and sexuality.
God bracketed marriage with those commandments because it's his gift to us.
This is his arrangement for us.
Now, one man, one woman, one flesh is not a take it or leave it situation like falling in and out of love which I compare to a Burmese tiger trap.
Be very careful.
You don't fall into love and stumble into marriage and then when it doesn't go the way you want it or you fall out of love, you get out of it.
No, no, no, no, no.
It has nothing to do with love as its basis.
That may be what brought a couple together, but marriage is something far higher, dedicated to God, established a bond from creation, modeled after Christ and the church.
And I'm indebted to Dietrich Bonhafer for a few thoughts here worthwhile considering.
He wrote these to his fiance while he was sitting in prison waiting to be hanged by the Gestapo.
He has said something like this.
Marriage is more than your love for each other.
It has a higher dignity and a power.
For it is God's holy ordinance through which he wills to perpetuate the human race till the end of time.
In your love, you only see your two selves in the world.
But in marriage, you are a link in the chain of generations.
These generations, God causes to come and to go, but it is from these generations
that he chooses his elect, those who will be part of his beautiful bride, the church at the great wedding feast in heaven.
That's more than simply being in and out of love.
In your love, you see the heaven of your happiness, but in marriage, you have a definite position of responsibility towards each other, the world, and mankind.
To be sure, your love is your own possession.
There's no doubting about that.
But marriage is more than something personal.
It's a status, an office.
Your love brings you together, but your marriage unites you.
You came as two individuals, two persons, mister or miss, and you leave a mister and misses a whole new entity as I was want to say, think about it, in this marriage.
There was nothing that ever existed about it on the face of the earth before, and nothing will exist exactly this way on the face of the earth ever again.
What a unique place in human history God gives to husband and wife.
And I quote, as high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity, the rights and the promise of marriage above the sanctity, rights and promise of love.
Think it through.
In the vows, it's not your love that will sustain your marriage.
After I do, and I will, and you've got me on it, it is the marriage that will sustain your love.
Richer, poorer, better, worse, sickness, health.
Notice, that's not about love.
That's about that unity of husband and wife in one flesh.
Till death parts us as Jesus pointed out to the sad you sees marriage belongs to this life and It ends in time and the days and years of this life as we all well know because we can see it There is no such thing as together forever and into eternity that is not what God says or the Bible says And then a word to the couple Paul
In 1 Corinthians 7, and I give you that as a reference guide for homework, says, don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers.
What does he mean?
Because there were plenty of marriages like that around, and Paul defines that even further there.
But think it through.
If your spouse is an unbeliever, can you share with them the joy of the word and the sacraments, or the hope of the life to come, or the powerful forgiveness of sins?
But you can.
if your spouse is a believer in Jesus Christ.
I know of a marriage that was arranged.
The country was India.
And the spouse had a very simple request, young man.
He made of his, and it was his father and his aunt who were arranging this marriage.
He says, I ask only that she be a Christian.
By the way, I don't think he saw her until she got off the airplane.
So that tells you about something.
You know I said, go work it out together.
Literally, go work it out together.
You get to share the gifts of God, His Word and His Spirit.
We set it there in the epistles, Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, our prayers, the Word of God.
We can hurt together.
We live together.
We cry.
We can rejoice together and do so all in the name of Jesus Christ, knowing.
that we are part of that beautiful bride, the church for which Jesus Christ has died and purchased by spirit, water, and the word.
We're waiting only for the great reception in heaven.
When he comes for his bride, that's us and it will never end.
Amen.
276.
You closed your hymn, we take it out again.
Now, this is for husbands and wives to be sure.
It includes everybody, but we'll highlight that today as part of the readings.
I ask first on page 276, husbands, will you have this woman to be, oh.
Join your right hands as you're able.
Now, that makes it awkward for me because my arm isn't that long, but you get the idea.
Okay.
Husbands, will you have this womb to be your wedded wife to live together in the holy estate of matrimony as God ordained it?
Will you nourish and cherish her as Christ loved his body, the church, giving himself up for her?
Will you love honor and keep her in sickness and in health and forsaking all others?
Remain united to her alone, so long as you both shall live, then husbands say, I will.
I will.
Wives, will you have this man to be your wedded husband, to live together in the holy state of matrimony as God ordained it?
Will you submit to him as a church submits to Christ?
Will you love, honor, and keep him in sickness and in hell?
And forsaking all others, remain united to him alone, so long as you both shall live, wives then say, I will.
Okay, and repeat after me, and I notice it sounds a little like cacophonous, but when I say I, I'll do it by phrases as though we were actually going through the wedding service itself.
So husbands, I, Ron.
Oh, come on.
I, thank you.
Be my wedded wife to have and to hold from this day forward for better for worse for richer for poor and sickness and in health To love and to cherish till death us to part according to God's holy will and I pledge you my faithfulness Okay wives together I Take you To be my wedded husband to have and to hold from this day forward for better for worse for richer for poor and sickness and in health
to love and to cherish, till death us to part, according to God's holy will, and I pledge you my faithfulness."
And all God's people said, amen.
I mean, the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds to faith in Christ, Jesus our Lord, to life everlasting.
Amen.
Please rise.
Let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
The Holy Spirit would fill us with thankfulness, praise and wisdom to walk according to His will.
Let us pray to the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
For our sacred musicians, that they may faithfully lead the praises of the ascended Lord among us.
And so, I defy the church of God.
Let us pray to the Lord.
For the kingdom of God that the Lord would preserve the invitation of his saving gospel among us and lead many into the eternal wedding feast.
That he would protect and vindicate his servants who preach the word and guard their families from those who oppose their ministry and life.
That God would open our ears who listen diligently to his life and life giving living and life giving word.
Let us pray to the Lord.
For the will of God to be done among us.
Our homes, a generation after generation, may walk not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming these evil days until Christ's return for all Christians, citizens of our nation, that in this foolish world, they would be filled with the Spirit and submit to all authorities out of reverence for Christ.
Let us pray to the Lord.
Let the nations would enjoy peace, goodwill, and end to tear, and blood shed, and freedom from tyranny.
that our leaders will be faithful in their service for the protection of life and the pursuit of all that is just and good.
Let us pray to the Lord.
For the bread that satisfies, that God will provide for our every need of body and soul, not because of our worthiness, but especially on account of Christ.
As we pray for those whose prayer requests, for whom prayers are requested,
for the families of Pastor Jones and Don Walker in their time of mourning, for Vicki, Lynn, Anita, Lois, Lewis, Marlis, Ray, Grant, Thorfinn, Doris, Matthew, Megan, Melissa, Mark, Ethel, Dave, Fred, Harold, Joan, Jayden, Rick, Virginia.
Lacey, Marilyn, Marlene, George, Anne, Myron, and Florence.
Let us pray to the Lord.
For all those invited to the marriage supper of Christ that entering through the waters of holy baptism may be found worthy to taste his gracious feast already in this life.
Let us pray to the Lord.
Spare us from all temptations, Lord, and deliver us from evil.
Your repentance lead us to forsake our wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts and return to you for abundant pardon, seeking you while you may be found.
That when Christ returns in glory, we may not be cast into the outer darkness, but welcomed into his everlasting wedding hall by grace.
Do the same, Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, amen.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
Continue with the service of the sacrament.
It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, Holy Lord, Almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who on the day this day overcame death and the grave.
By His glorious resurrection opened up to us the way of everlasting life.
Therefore, with angels and dark angels and with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify your glorious name ever more praising you and saying,
Our
Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and leave us not at the temptation But deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever Amen Our Jesus Christ the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks He broke it and gave it to his disciples saying cakey.
This is my body which is given for you
this new remembrance of me.
And in the same way after supper, he took the cup.
And when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, all of you drink of it.
For this cup is a new testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
This too, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
A piece of the Lord be with you always.
you
Thank you for tuning in to the Divine Service at Zion Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls.
May the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
If you have any prayer requests, please let us know.
You may call us at 715-723-6380 or stop by and visit 110 East Grand Avenue in Chippewa Falls.
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Zion is a member of the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod.