In Psalm 128, which we sing a lot around here, it literally says, “Happy is everyone that fears the Lord and walks in His ways.” Happy. And then it says it again in the next verse: “You will eat the labor of your hands, and you will be happy.” Same word. This is a call back to Psalm 1, the introduction to the whole Psalter: “Happy is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful.” All of those options are not just wrong; they are lame. They are a drag. They are not any fun. But God’s ways are fruitful and happy. Meditating on the law of God day and night is not drudgery; it’s not boring. It is the water of life; it is Ent-water that makes you grow like a tree. And it makes you fruitful in every season. That means you’re happy in every season.
Why? Psalm 128 says this happiness flows from the satisfaction of enjoying the fruit of your labors, a wife like a fruitful vine adorning your house, and children like olive plants all around your table. Happiness is hard, productive work, a fruitful wife, and children around your table. Behold, this is how a man is blessed who fears the Lord, and then to see that blessing, that happiness, bestowed on your children and grandchildren. That is the good life, the happy life.
Benjamin Franklin said that wine is a constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy. He was channelling Psalm 104 which says that God gave wine to make the heart of man glad, oil to make our faces shine, and bread to make our hearts strong (Ps. 104:15). So when Jesus came, it is no accident at all that His first miracle was at a wedding, and His first miracle was turning water into wine. And it says that Jesus did this first miracle in order to manifest His glory. What is that glory that He manifest? Glory makes things shine. Glory makes everyone say, “Wow.” Glory is beauty. Glory is achievement. Glory is stunning. This is why Scripture says that the whole earth is full of God’s glory. It is His masterpiece. He made the beauty of colors and music and taste and smell; but He also made the glory of nuclear power and radio waves and electricity and cell phones. And we’ve only just scratched the surface.
In the beginning, God created the universe, and He put Adam in a garden and gave him a treasure map. He told Adam that the river that flowed out of the garden parted into four heads: the first one went down to the land of Havilah where there was gold, and the gold of that land was good, and there were also bdellium and onyx stones. And then there were three more rivers: two of them went to other lands that God named Ethiopia and Assyria, and the fourth was left as a complete mystery. In other words, in the beginning God made man and called him to explore. God called Adam to the glory and joy of adventure. This is the happiness of eating the fruit of your labors. It is the happiness of exploring the rivers, finding the gold, and bringing some of it home.
One modern example of this is the fact that nearly all modern microchips and semiconductors are made out of silicon – which is why we call that part of California where so much modern technology has been invented “Silicon Valley.” But did you know the silicon is basically found in sand? In fact, it’s the second most common element on earth, right after oxygen. What was down those rivers? Silicon for cell phones. What was down those rivers? Glory.
But happiness and glory are compounded in community. We all know this. You see something amazing. You find something amazing, and your first instinct is to tell someone else about it. This is why we have “share” buttons on everything. This is because shared delight, shared joy multiplies the happiness exponentially. This is part of why it is not good for man to be alone. Happiness is not merely the adventure of hard work; happiness is bringing home some of the fruit of that labor to share with your wife and your children. Look babe, silicon!
Sin is what destroys this happiness, but Jesus came to restore our joy. Jesus came, and the first thing He did was make wine at a wedding. Jesus came to restore fellowship between human beings, to restore the blessing of work and marriage and family. Jesus came to restore the glory of the adventurous good life. To paraphrase Franklin, Jesus’ first miracle is a constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy. And it’s no accident that Jesus turned the Jewish water of purification into wine. By the blood of His cross, Jesus has washed away all our sins; He has purified us of all our failures. And His blood is now proclaimed in the wine of communion. His blood is our joy. His blood reconciles our enmity. His blood pays our debts and covers our shame, so that we can get back to work. And He is risen from the dead so that we can get back into the joy.
So Cole, my charge to you is to be a happy husband. Be happy in your work. Be happy in your wife. And be happy in the pile of kids we trust God will bless you with. But this happiness is only possible if you fear the Lord and walk in His ways. If you fear man, if you fear your wife, if you fear economic disaster or cultural collapse, you will take your eyes off Jesus and then you won’t be able to walk on the water with Him. The central assignment the Bible gives husbands is to love their wife. This means you must seek to understand Emma, and even when you don’t, cheerfully keep trying. This also means you must lead her toward Christ and holiness, which is to say happiness. Another way to say all of this is that you must imitate Christ who brought the wine to the party. But ultimately, He did this by laying His life down for His bride. So you must do the same for Emma until you die.
Emma, my charge to you is to be a happy wife. You’ve probably heard the saying, “happy wife; happy life.” But it often gets twisted into making everything orient to the wife, but even if you might selfishly want that, you will never be happy like that. No, God created the universe such that a man must be oriented to Christ and His mission under Christ, and that a woman is most happy when she is oriented to Christ by being oriented to her husband. Your main assignment is to respect your husband. A lot of Christian women think that this means doing what they would find helpful. But it turns out men really are from Mars and women are from Venus. In other words, what a woman finds helpful is often interpreted by men as disrespectful. This often comes in the form of words: what a woman thinks is just reminding or encouraging easily comes off as nagging and Proverbs says that a woman can do great harm this way. This is why Peter says that a woman ought to try to win her disobedient husband over without a word and by her gracious and submissive spirit, which is lovely in the sight of God. This really is challenging because every woman is married to a fallible, fallen man. But you need to know that your gracious respect of Cole will be a way more powerful in ministry than piles of reminders and exhortations.
And through the wine of the gospel you’ll both be a lot more happy.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Photo by Samsung Memory US on Unsplash
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