David Tan's Little Corner
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David Tan's Little Corner
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The Wedding
of Bernard and Dorothy Solemnized by Rev. Stanley Chua
Summary of his Sermon ( Click here for 中文 and here for photos.) There is in reality of life no such thing as a perfect marriage or a troubled free marriage. We know that whenever two persons live together, they will soon be conflicts and arguments. There will be problems because we bring into our marriage our individual idiosyncrasies and peculiar habits. We know no two persons are alike. The truth is, a couple who is married will all too soon discover that conflicts and disagreements will form part of their married lives. That is why the Christian view of marriage is very realistically anchored in reality. The scripture passage which I have just read for us about love. Paul defines for us what true love is all about. Though the context of the scripture is about a Church in conflict, nevertheless, it is still very applicable to a marriage situation because it deals with human relationships. It is about how a person should relate to another person. It is about how God intends for human beings to love each other. The apostle Paul defines for us what love is all about. Love is not just a feeling or an emotion though these are important. The way Paul defines love is that love is really about our attitude towards one another. The qualities of such attitudes are expressed in being patient, being kind, not rude or easily angered, etc...with one another. If you notice carefully, the way love is being define, it presupposes that we will have trouble in our relationships with one another. Because if we don't have any trouble in our relationship with one another, there is no need for Paul to instruct us to be patient, kind, or not rude, etc... with one another. So the first part about this passage of scripture, the apostle Paul says that if we love each other then our attitude towards one another should that be of patience, kindness, etc... more importantly, love is also about unconditional acceptance of one another. Paul says in verse 7, "Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." A whole lot of sermon can be preached out of this verse but I just want to summarize that the whole emphasis of this verse is basically about accepting each other unconditionally. And that is to say, I will love you no matter what! No `ifs,' no `buts.' Having said all that about love, I think all of us must admit that humanly it is quite impossible for us to be consistent all the time. We know we can love each other unconditionally some of the time but not all the time. And the reason why we are not able to consistently love each other all the time is because at the core of our being is that we are all sinners. The bible tells us that everyone has fallen short of the glory of God. And that is to say, every one of us has a nature that naturally gravitates towards all kinds of selfishness and bad attitudes. If we were to rely on our own effort, we will never be able to love each other truly. And that is why for Christians, we know that for any relationship to work we need to have God in the centre of our lives. As Christians we need to have a living relationship with God so that we can draw his strength to love one another truly. And so for Bernard and Dorothy, I pray that both of you will always remember to have a living relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. As both of you commit your marriage to Him and always keep Him in the centre of your marriage, I believe with all my heart that God will give you the grace and strength to love each other truly and unconditionally all the days of your lives. Amen! Photo 1
Photo 2
我们知道现实生活里是没有十全十美的婚姻。夫妻之间难免有磨擦和争执。 这是因为我们总是把婚前自己的癖好和怪习惯也一起带了来！ 没有两个人是一模一样的。说实在的，新婚夫妇会很快的发现到争吵是婚后生活的一部分！ 因此，基督徒对婚姻的看法是：我们要面对现实。婚姻不是无暇疵的。刚才我读的一段圣经里提起耶稣的使徒保罗。保罗告诉我们什么是真实的爱。虽然保罗所讲的是教会的纷争，但是也可以实用于婚姻的情况。因为这里针对的是人与人之间的关系，和神要人与人之间有爱。 保罗清楚的讲明什么是爱。他说爱不只是一种感情而已。他认为爱实在是有关人与人之间的态度。 你的态度是好或是坏，是看你有多少忍耐，有没有爱心，你的性情是否容易发怒，对人是否有礼貌，等等。 在还没有对爱下定义之前，我们已经认为人与人之间的感情一定会有纠纷的，如果没有的话，保罗就不需要教导我们应该有忍耐，有爱心，不要对人无理，等等。 不但如此，保罗也说：更重要的是：爱是没有条件的彼此接受。他说：爱是永远保护，永远信任，永远有希望，永远能坚持下去。 在这里，我要强调的是: 夫妻的恩爱是无条件的，没有什么“我爱你是因为…..” 或是“我爱你, 但是…..” 话是这么说，但是我门也不得承认：人性是脆弱的，所以很难能够永远无条件的爱。 原因何在呢？都是因为我们都是罪人。圣经告诉我们，人的本性是倾向自私，倾向多种坏的态度。如果我们只靠自己的努力，我们永远不能彼此真实相爱。所以基督徒明白，除非有神与我们同在，我们就没有永恒的爱。 所以，伟坚 和 淑芬, 我祈望你们两人能记得要和主耶稣有永活的关系。你们在主耶稣面前举行婚礼，让主耶稣居住在你们婚姻的中心，我深信他会赐给你们恩惠和力量，使你们拥有永恒的和无条件的爱。 阿们！
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