We’re All Divorcees

This is a wedding feast. Every week we renew covenant with our God. This is not because somehow the covenant expired over the last week. This is not because you sinned once too many times and God kicked you out and now demands that you come back begging. No, God renews covenant with us because He loves us. He renews covenant with His people because He loves to go over the whole story again and again. And yes, when He goes over the story, He’s healing us some more, He’s reminding us again because we so often forget. But He’s reminding us because He loves us, He delights in us. He is the great bridegroom, the faithful Husband who comes again and again to fight for His bride, to defend His bride, to assure His bride.

But this also means that every week we’re being reminded that we used to be married to somebody else. We’re all divorcees. We’re all from broken families, broken homes. Maybe your parents are still married, maybe you’re still married to your first spouse, and that’s wonderful, but I’m talking about your former affair with sin, your lust for darkness, your covenant with death. God invites you here every week to remind you of who you truly are in Christ. The old ways die hard. And you are sometimes tempted to think that you’re still married to that old hag, to that abuser, to that old way of life. But here, Jesus assures you that the old way is dead. It was nailed to a Roman cross 2,000 years ago. Leave it behind. You are not defined by your sin. You are not defined by what others did to you. You are not defined by the brokenness in this world or the brokenness in your life. You are defined by Christ Jesus. And in Him, you are righteous, you are clean, you are holy, you are completely new. And now you have married into a new family, a family being knit together by the Holy Spirit. Look around you. This is your family. This is your people. Welcome home.