Just a couple of notes before you begin reading:
1) I normally wouldn't talk about myself and my story with Maggie as much as I do at the beginning of this message, but the theme for the meeting just a few days before Valentine's Day was love and the organizers asked me to talk a little about our story.
2) My manuscripts are usually a little more wooden than the actual sermon. Writing it out in this form puts in my mind most of the words I want to say and keeps me on track during the delivery. When I write the manuscript I don't always know everything I'm going to say, but having this gives me most of what I need and I can fill in the rough patches as I need to.
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Let me take a few moments to introduce myself since this is the first time I've ever spoken here. I know you probably have some questions about how I ended up in Indonesia, why I'm here speaking today, and in light of today's theme of love - how did I come to marry a Chinese-Indonesian.
So I'll start about six years ago. I went to China in August 2009 for what was initially supposed to be one year. I was planning to go to seminary in the US, but wasn't sure exactly what I should study or what area of ministry I should prepare for. When my pastor met a man who was recruiting people to go teach English in China for a year it seemed like the perfect opportunity. I would go to China for a year, tell some people about Jesus, spend a year away from everything I know seeking direction for the future, then go back to the States and start seminary.
5.5 years later I'm still in Asia, having only been back to the US three times for a few weeks at a time. There were three things that happened in China that led me to stay and ultimately led me here to Indonesia. One, I learned that the international church in Beijing had a seminary program where I could could begin working on my degree. Two, I found a great community in that church in the young adults ministry and a small group I joined. And three, the first time I went to the church I met Maggie from Indonesia.
The first time we met that was all I learned about her. In that first meeting my first impression was that she had a really great smile. I learned later that her first impression of me was only that I'm fat. A few months later we ended up in the same small group Bible study, and I started getting to know her a little better. After a few months I asked her for a date. It didn't go as I'd hoped. I still remember the look of utter terror on her face as she said, "Oh no! Oh no! I'll think about it." So things really got off to a rocky start for us.
A few days later she said we could have lunch as friends, which we did. The next few months were really confusing because I didn't know what Maggie was thinking, and I learned later that Maggie didn't know what she was thinking either. Finally in August 2010 she said we could date. In February 2011, we came to Indonesia, my first time here. I met her family that week and asked her to marry me. She said yes, and on July 23, 2011 we were married in Jakarta.
We stayed in Beijing for the first year and a half of marriage, then moved to Malaysia in 2013 so I could study full-time and finish my seminary degree. Unfortunately we were having some trouble getting a visa for Maggie to stay in Malaysia, so after only six months there we relocated again, this time to Jakarta.
We're now expecting out first child, due to be born in mid-June.
Marriage is never easy, and for us being from such different cultures and backgrounds there have been some difficult times in these first few years. We've been honest with each other and and with others that if our marriage wasn't built on a foundation stronger than our feelings for each other we probably wouldn't have made it thorough the first couple of years.
There was a passage of Scripture that we had read at our wedding, and I would like to read that passage to you now. This passage tells us about a love that is much greater, much better, than the love that Maggie and I have for each other. The passage is found in Ephesians 5:22-33.
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
The apostle Paul wrote these words nearly 2000 years ago, and just a few years after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In these few sentences he reveals something pretty amazing about marriage. He tells us that all the way back in the beginning of time, when the first man and first woman were created by God and brought together as husband and wife, that was designed to be a living picture of the coming union of Jesus and His Bride, the church, God’s people in all times and all places. Let's be clear that Paul didn't simply choose marriage as an analogy that represents Christ and the church. God created marriage from the very beginning to be a real life picture of this relationship.
So I want to tell you today about the love of Jesus for His bride, the Church. But we need to notice something. Paul says that Jesus loved the church by giving Himself up for her. What does that mean? Why did He have to do that? To understand that, to understand how amazing the love of Jesus is, we need to go back to that first man and first woman.
The Bible tells us that God created the world in six days, and we're repeatedly told that God saw his creation and it was good. On the sixth day God created man, and then woman. Something was different about man and woman. They were made in the image of God. They were created to be the reflection of God on the earth. They were made to walk with God. They were made to subdue and have dominion over the earth. We see in the second chapter of the Bible that God, in his loving kindness, made a garden with everything the man and woman needed. God brought them together as husband and wife, and we're told they were naked and unashamed.
At the end of the sixth day we're told that God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. Creation was perfect. There was no sickness, no death, no disaster. The man and the woman lived without shame, without fear, without anxiety, without any relationship difficulties. And above all, they were not separated from God. It was very good.
But none of us would look at the world today and say it's very good. With our smartphones we now receive almost moment by moment reminders that this world is not good. Every day we are bombarded with news of natural disasters and tragic accidents. Every day we see, in vivid detail, acts of evil committed by humans against other humans. We ourselves from time to time receive news of the illness or death of someone we love. It's not very good. In fact, it's really bad.
So what happened? The third chapter of Genesis tells us. God had told the man he could eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, but the fruit of the tree knowledge of good and evil he was not to eat, or he would surely die. One day a serpent appeared to the woman and first twisted God's word, asking her if God said they couldn't eat any fruit in the garden. The woman replied that they could eat the fruit of any tree but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that fruit that couldn't eat or even touch, or they would surely die. Then the serpent denied the word of God, saying, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." The woman liked the idea of being like God, she saw that the fruit was good for eating and desirable, so she and her husband both ate.
You might be tempted to think that God lied, because they didn't physically die. They did remain physically alive for many years after, but what the Bible will later make clear is that though they remained physically alive, spiritually they died in that moment. The moment they ate the fruit they went from being naked and unashamed to realizing their nakedness and trying to cover themselves, then hiding from God moments later. So as we're reading the story we can see that something changed. The perfect creation was lost. What we now call sin had entered into the world, and nothing in creation is unaffected by sin. The whole creation now lives under a curse, the curse of sin.
God pronounced specific curses on the serpent, the woman, and the man. The woman's curse was greatly increased pain in childbirth, and a desire to control her husband that would be met by his rule over her. The man's curse was that he would work the earth with great difficulty just to survive, and then he would die. The serpent's curse was that he would crawl on his belly and eat dust, and that there would be enmity between the serpent and the woman's offspring; that the woman's offspring will bruise the serpent's head, and the serpent will bruise his heel.
As we read through the Bible it doesn't take long to see the hideous nature of sin. The woman's first son murdered her second son out of jealous anger. In just a few generations we're told that God was grieved that he had made man because the wickedness of man was great and every thought and intention of his heart was only evil all the time. God showed his wrath and anger towards sin by sending a flood to wipe out the earth. But God had made a promise that a descendant of the woman would crush the serpent's head, so he kept one family alive. Immediately though, we see the descent back into sin. The human condition of every thought and intention of our hearts being only evil all the time didn't change.
Eventually God chose a people, Israel, to be His people. He gave them His Law, telling them how they were to behave as his people. The Law had no power to save them though, and for more than 1000 years they lived in a constant state of rebellion against the good, loving, faithful God who chose them to be His people, brought them out of their slavery in Egypt, and gave them the land He promised them.
It's very important for us to understand of all this. We cannot understand the love of God, we cannot understand the love of Jesus for His bride, if we do not understand the human condition.
What the Bible tells us is that we are born physically alive, but spiritually dead. We are born under the curse of sin. Our very nature is sinful from the moment we are conceived.
Like the people of Noah's day, we are born with every thought and intention of our heart being only evil all the time. We are born and continue all the days of our lives, unless God steps in and gives us a new heart, in rebellion against the good, loving, righteous, and holy God who made us. We are born hating God.
If you don't believe me, consider my soon to be born child. We're not going to teach him/her to disrespect our authority as his/her parents, but he/she will. We're not going to teach him/her to throw a tantrum every time he/she doesn't get his/her way, but he/she will. We're not going to teach him/her to lie, but he/she will. We're not going to teach him/her to steal, but he/she will. We're not going to teach him/her to bully younger or smaller children, but at some point he/she probably will. We're not going to teach him/her to be selfish, but he/she will be. All of these things are in a child's very nature.
God, in his goodness, gives parents, societies, and governments to curb these behaviors and keep us from being as bad as we could be, but let's be honest - if it wasn't for our parents, if it wasn't for society, holding us in check and correcting those behaviors we would all be savages. It's in our nature. It's who we are.
It's who humanity has been since the first man and the first woman ate that fruit. Psalm 2 describes the nations, the mass of humanity, raging against God in blind hatred and trying to overthrow him. That's me, and that's you, at least as we were born. God is not threatened by this, but he does have righteous and holy wrath towards sin and sinners. He hates sin. He hates this rebellion against him and in that same Psalm and numerous other places in the Bible he promises to bring utter destruction, not just in this life but for all eternity, on those who rebel against him.
Once again, that's me and that's you, as we're born. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that the people of the church were formerly children of God's wrath. Psalm 14, Psalm 53, and Romans 3 all say that there is none who does good. Not one. Psalm 5 says God hates all evildoers. Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Meaning, we are all going to die. We are born spiritually dead, and one day we are going to physically die. On that we will face judgment for our sins. And left on our own, we will have no defense. No one will be found guiltless. Left on our we will be held to account for all our sins, suffering the wrath of God without end for all of eternity.
With all of that understood, let’s now talk about the love of God. From the very beginning of man’s rebellion against God, God made a promise. Remember what he told the serpent? That the serpent would bruise the heel of the woman’s offspring, but her offspring would bruise the serpent’s head.
As you read through the Bible you see God being faithful to that promise, and clarifying who that offspring would be. We’re not talking about offspring plural, as in all of humanity. It is singular. One man was going to come and crush the serpent’s head to rescue his people from the curse of sin.
We follow the story from Adam and Eve through their third son Seth. Through the generations to Noah, then through Noah’s son Shem to Abraham. From Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Judah. Many years later King David was told that his descendent would forever be on the throne.
Finally, around 2,000 years ago that promised Son came. God in human flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. He was born of a virgin - which was not just a miracle but a very important fact. He was born not of two sinful parents, but conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was born without the curse of sin that every human from Adam and Eve forward were born into. He was tempted. Where Adam was tempted in a garden with an abundance of food surrounding him, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting. Unlike Adam, Jesus didn’t sin. He lived all the days of his life without sin. There was never a moment in his entire life that he was not doing exactly what the Father wanted him to do.
At the end of his life the people of Israel and the Roman authorities conspired together to put Jesus to death. He was mocked, beaten, spit on, had a crown of thorns placed on his head, forced to carry his own cross, and then had his hands and his feet nailed to a cross, lifted up, and left to die a slow, excruciatingly painful death. The creator allowed his own creation to put him to death.
Why? To redeem his bride. God is just. He could not simply overlook our sins against him. The penalty of sin is death. Someone had to die. Someone had to suffer God’s wrath. It should have been me. It should have been you.
But God is also merciful. And God so loved that the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
God poured out the wrath you and I deserve on His Son Jesus. If you want to understand how much God hates sin, look at the cross. See what he did to his own Son.
And If you want to understand how much God loves his people, look at the cross. See what he did to his own Son.
It was the will of God the Father to crush his own Son. Jesus loved His Father and loved His bride, the church, so for the joy set before him he endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
See, the good news for us today is that Jesus didn’t stay dead. Jesus didn’t deserve to die, Jesus lived a life that was pleasing to God. So God raised him from the dead, never to die again.
The curse of sin and death has been broken. God’s wrath towards sin and sinners has been satisfied. Jesus has paid the price to redeem his bride.
Jesus had a simple message. Repent and believe. Repentance is turning from your sins, forsaking them and leaving them behind, belief or faith is trusting Jesus to forgive you of your sins. Jesus said and still says today that all who do this will have eternal life. Jesus gave up his life to rescue a sinful, rebellious people who hated him from their sin and rebellion, and make us his body and his bride.
The Bible says that at the end of time Jesus is coming back. All those who believe in him will be resurrected to eternal life. What was lost in the garden when the man and woman sinned will be restored. We will once again walk with God in perfection. The Bible calls this the wedding supper of the Lamb, the Lamb being Jesus who was sacrificed in his place. He will be united with his bride, and all who believe will live with him forever. It is the true happily ever after that we all long for.
This is the greatest love story ever told. Jesus giving himself up to save his bride from the wrath of God.
If you’re here today and you have never trusted Jesus to forgive your sins I want you to know two things. One, you are a great sinner. You have rebelled against the good God who made you. You are not innocent, and the wrath of God abides on you. But two, Jesus is a great Savior. If you repent and believe, he will save you from your sins and give you eternal life.
I know that many of you are believers already, and I want you to remember that God loves you. Ephesians 1 tells us that God chose his people before the foundation of the world, predestined us for adoption, redeemed us with blood of Jesus, and has sealed us with the Holy Spirit. If you are in Christ, you are securely in Christ. You have been purchased in a legal transaction that cannot be undone.
There may be days when you question God’s love for you. Maybe it’s because of your sin. Maybe there’s an illness or a death of someone you love. Maybe it feels like your whole world is falling apart. Know this: If you are in Christ you cannot be separated from the love of God.
Paul wrote this in Romans 8:
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you are in Christ, you are securely held in the love of Christ and will be forevermore. Christ has already paid the price of your redemption. Your sins are washed away and the righteousness of Christ belongs to you. God no longer calls you his enemy, but welcomes you to his table as a beloved daughter or son. This is the great love of God.
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