As is sometimes my practice, here you will find a bunch of working that I did to come up with the final product, as well as the actual talk I gave at this wedding at the end. This talk is meant to go for 10 minutes (probably will go for 11) and is meant to link together God, marriage and the story of the infinity stones from the Marvel cinematic universe. It was fun to write.
God, Marriage and
Infinity Stones
Soul (orange)
Reality (red)
Mind (yellow)
Space (blue)
Time (green)
Power (purple)
Two points:
1)
The infinity stones are a representation of the
characteristics of God. God is a great thing to build your marriage on. We are
made in his image and share these aspects to some degree.
2)
There will come a time when God will click his
fingers and all marriages will cease. Our marriages are not eternal. Our
relationship with God is.
-----
Ephesians 5:1-2, 21-33
There is no infinity stone of Love.
I think most people who know Emily and Nikki know what I
mean when I talk about the infinity stones. If you don’t know what the infinity
stones are, let me give a very quick explanation. Emily and Nikki are huge
nerds – you all surely know that. The infinity stones are the central plot
point of all the Marvel cinematic universe movies. Emily and Nikki have chosen
the infinity stones as a bit of a theme for their wedding; even the different
coloured stones in Emily’s engagement ring represent the six infinity stones of
this epic story.
And it’s a great wedding theme. It represents a big part of
Emily’s and Nikki’s personalities they share as total nerds; it plays into
possibly the biggest and most expensive storytelling exercise in human history
- the Marvel movies – which even if you’re not a fan you can’t have escaped the
fact that all there seems to be at the cinema these days are superhero movies;
and since each stone has its own colour, it gives you a colour scheme to work
with for wedding planning. What more does a wedding need?
Well, for Emily and Nikki, it needs Jesus. Emily and Nikki
are huge nerds, but the thing most important to them is Jesus Christ. The thing
most important to their relationship is Jesus Christ. And so the thing most
important to their wedding is Jesus Christ. While their wedding might have a
superhero theme, we don’t get up and read from Marvel comics today. We read
from the Bible because they are getting married before God.
And it’s a good thing too! Because the story of the infinity
stones is pretty depressing. It goes something like this: these six stones are
the last remains of some all-powerful being, spread around the universe, and if
someone can harness all six stones then they will have control over all aspects
of the universe – Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time.
These six aspects are a pretty typical summary of all the
things that people think make up God. The Bible tells us from the beginning
that God is both the creator and sustainer of all things. The Bible tells us
that God is all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, infinite and outside of
time. And God created us to be with him in that eternity forever.
But there is no infinity stone of Love. And yet love is the
number one attribute of God that makes him God. You know how we know that?
Because God as Jesus Christ left behind all the powers of the infinity stones
to come to this earth as a human being. Jesus died suffering the punishment for
our rebellion against God, so that we could have a perfect relationship with
him. Let me make it clear: the power that God uses to bring people close to
himself, to make a relationship between them and himself, isn’t contained in any
of the infinity stones. It’s the power of love. It’s a love that sacrifices, a
love that gives things up, a love that costs. That love is central to who God
is.
Emily and Nikki want to bring that love to their marriage,
the love of God. In the book of Ephesians in the Bible we read this in chapter
5 verse 1: “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children (2) and
walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as
a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Emily and Nikki want to follow God’s
example, and in their marriage they want to walk in the way of love.
How does that look when you live it out? The book of
Ephesians gives some specific examples of how we should live this out in
different aspects of our lives: as children we should honour our parents, and
as parents we should not exasperate our children but train them in the ways of
Jesus Christ. It says that slaves should obey their masters as if they were
obeying Christ; to masters it says they should treat their slaves in the same
way! And it says that wives should submit to their husbands as the church
submits to Christ; and that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved
the church and gave himself up for her. These are all examples of what verse 21
of Ephesians 5 tells us that we should all do: “Submit to one another out of
reverence for Christ.”
As Christians, we are all called to love one another as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, and we are all called to submit to
one another out of reverence for Christ. And Emily and Nikki, as Christians
joining together in marriage before God, both of you are called to put the
other one first, to ensure each other’s flourishing and wellbeing ahead of your
own. Whether it’s a little thing – like the rest of the Avengers watching their
language because it upsets Captain America – or a big thing – like learning to
curb your Hulk-like rage so you don’t bring down the helicarrier with everyone
else onboard – both of you need to put the other one’s best interests first.
And, Emily and Nikki, you are both called to love one
another as Christ loved you. You need to take care of one another, and build
each other up. Emily, be the Tony Stark to Nikki’s Peter Parker, and give him
what he needs to be his absolute best – although I would recommend not installing
an instant kill mode. Nikki, be the Thor to Emily’s Bruce Banner, encouraging
her that she’s powerful and useful and that you don’t even like the Hulk
because he’s all like “rarrr, smash smash smash”.
In the Marvel movies, a super-bad guy called Thanos wants to
collect the infinity stones together because he thinks the best thing for the
universe would be to randomly kill half of all thinking beings that live there.
He essentially things that the big problem is one of overpopulation – there are
too many people – and so if you kill half of them, then there will suddenly be
heaps of resources for everyone, and those who are left will be happy.
Apparently he’s the only person with the strength of will to make this
difficult decision, and so his plan is to collect the infinity stones together
and make this happen using their incredible powers.
And then he used his great power to resurrect Jesus from the
dead to show that in a fight between God and death, God always wins.
In fact, the Bible tells us in Genesis that God made
humanity in his own image. Part of that image is our ability to affect all of
these different areas of the universe: we can change one another’s Minds by
what we say and do; we can harness Powers like heat, light, electricity and
even nuclear fission; we can move ourselves around in Space, whether it be to
the moon or just to New Zealand; we can look backwards and forwards in Time by
reading books about the past and making educated guesses about the future; we
can change the very Reality of one another’s lives, for good or ill, by what we
do; we can even have an impact on someone’s eternal Soul by sharing with them
the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are made in the image of God, and while compared
to him we are weak and feeble, we are capable of amazing and life-changing
things.
So my first message to you, Emily and Nikki, is to say this:
when you harness the abilities that God has given you by making you in his
image - Mind, Power, Reality, Soul, Space, and Time – make sure that you use
them
God,
Marriage and Infinity Stones
Soul
(orange)
Reality
(red)
Mind
(yellow)
Space
(blue)
Time
(green)
Power
(purple)
Two
points:
- The infinity stones are a
representation of the characteristics of God. God is a great thing to
build your marriage on. We are made in his image and share these aspects
to some degree.
- There will come a time when
God will click his fingers and all marriages will cease. Our marriages are
not eternal. Our relationship with God is.
-----
Ephesians
5:1-2, 21-33
There is
no infinity stone of Love.
I think
most people who know Emily and Nikki know what I mean when I talk about the
infinity stones. If you don’t know what the infinity stones are, let me give a
very quick explanation. Emily and Nikki are huge nerds – you all surely know
that. The infinity stones are the central plot point of all the Marvel
cinematic universe movies. Emily and Nikki have chosen the infinity stones as a
bit of a theme for their wedding; even the different coloured stones in Emily’s
engagement ring represent the six infinity stones of this epic story.
And it’s
a great wedding theme. It represents a big part of Emily’s and Nikki’s
personalities they share as total nerds; it plays into possibly the biggest and
most expensive storytelling exercise in human history - the Marvel movies –
which even if you’re not a fan you can’t have escaped the fact that all there
seems to be at the cinema these days are superhero movies; and since each stone
has its own colour, it gives you a colour scheme to work with for wedding
planning. What more does a wedding need?
Well, for
Emily and Nikki, it needs Jesus. Emily and Nikki are huge nerds, but the thing
most important to them is Jesus Christ. The thing most important to their
relationship is Jesus Christ. And so the thing most important to their wedding
is Jesus Christ. While their wedding might have a superhero theme, we don’t get
up and read from Marvel comics today. We read from the Bible because they are
getting married before God.
And it’s
a good thing too! Because not only is the story of the Infinity stones fiction;
it is pretty depressing too. It goes something like this: these six stones are
the only remains of some now-dead all-powerful being. These remains are spread
around the universe, and if someone can harness all six stones then they will
have control over all aspects of the universe – Mind, Power, Reality, Soul,
Space, and Time. This big purple guy called Thanos collects these stones and
wants to use their power to kill half of all intelligent life in the universe.
He's the bad guy.
These six
aspects are a pretty typical summary of all the things that people think make
up God. And the Bible tells us from the beginning that God is both the creator
and sustainer of all things. The Bible tells us that God is all-knowing,
all-present, all-powerful, infinite and outside of time. God is an all-powerful
being, and it might seem easy to compare God to the infinity stones.
But there
is no infinity stone of Love. And love is the number one attribute of God that
makes him God. You know how we know that? Because God as Jesus Christ left
behind all the powers of the infinity stones to come to this earth as a human
being. Jesus died, suffering the punishment for our rebellion against God, so
that we could have a perfect relationship with him. Let me make it clear: the
power that God uses to bring people close to himself, to make a relationship
between them and himself, isn’t contained in any of the infinity stones. It’s the
power of love. It’s a love that sacrifices, a love that gives things up, a love
that costs. That love is central to who God is.
Emily and
Nikki want to bring that love to their marriage, the love of God. In the book
of Ephesians in the Bible we read this in chapter 5 verse 1: “Follow God’s
example, therefore, as dearly loved children (2) and walk in the way of love,
just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God.” Emily and Nikki want to follow God's example; in their
marriage, they want to walk in the way of love.
How does
that look when you live it out? The book of Ephesians gives some specific
examples of how we should live this out in different aspects of our lives: as
children we should honour our parents, and as parents we should not exasperate
our children but train them in the ways of Jesus Christ. It says that slaves
should obey their masters as if they were obeying Christ; to masters it says
they should treat their slaves in the same way! And it says that wives should
submit to their husbands as the church submits to Christ; and that husbands
should love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
These are all examples of what verse 21 of Ephesians 5 tells us that we should
all do: “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
As
Christians, we are all called to love one another as Christ loved us and gave
himself up for us, and we are all called to submit to one another out of
reverence for Christ. And Emily and Nikki, as Christians joining together in
marriage before God, both of you are called to put the other one first, to
ensure each other’s flourishing and wellbeing ahead of your own. Whether it’s a
little thing – like the rest of the Avengers watching their language because it
upsets Captain America – or a big thing – like learning to curb your Hulk-like
rage so you don’t bring down the helicarrier with everyone else onboard – both
of you need to put the other one’s best interests first.
And,
Emily and Nikki, you are both called to love one another as Christ loved you.
You need to take care of one another, and build each other up. Emily, be the
Tony Stark to Nikki’s Peter Parker, and give him what he needs to be his
absolute best – although I would recommend not installing an instant kill mode
in his spiderman suit. Nikki, be the Thor to Emily’s Bruce Banner, encouraging
her that she’s powerful and useful and smart, and that you don’t even like the
Hulk because he’s all like “rarrr, smash smash smash”. Both of you have been
made in the image of God and as such have been given the ability to affect the
universe for one another: you can change one another’s Minds by what you say
and do; you can harness Powers like heat, light, electricity and even nuclear
fission to make your lives better; you can move yourselves around in Space,
whether it be to the moon or just to New Zealand; you can look backwards and
forwards in Time by reading books about the past and making educated guesses
about the future; you can change the very Reality of one another’s lives, for
good or ill, by what you do; you can even have an impact on people's eternal
Souls by sharing with them the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are made in the image
of God, and while compared to him we are weak and feeble, through him we are
capable of amazing and life-changing things. Use that power for loving one
another, and loving others as a couple, out of reverence for Christ.
God,
Marriage and Infinity Stones
Soul
(orange)
Reality
(red)
Mind
(yellow)
Space (blue)
Time
(green)
Power
(purple)
Two
points:
- The infinity stones are a
representation of the characteristics of God. God is a great thing to
build your marriage on. We are made in his image and share these aspects
to some degree.
- There will come a time when
God will click his fingers and all marriages will cease. Our marriages are
not eternal. Our relationship with God is.
-----
Ephesians
5:1-2, 21-33
There is
no infinity stone of Love.
I think
most people who know Emily and Nikki know what I mean when I talk about
infinity stones. If you don’t know what the infinity stones are, let me give a
very quick explanation. Emily and Nikki are huge nerds – you all surely know
that. The infinity stones are the central plot point of all the Marvel
cinematic universe movies. Emily and Nikki have chosen the infinity stones as a
bit of a theme for their wedding; the different coloured stones in Emily’s ring
or even the dresses of the bridesmaids represent the six infinity stones of
this epic story.
And it’s
a great wedding theme. It represents a big part of Emily’s and Nikki’s
personalities they share as total nerds; it plays into possibly the biggest and
most expensive storytelling exercise in human history - the Marvel movies –
which even if you’re not a fan you can’t have escaped the fact that all there
seems to be at the cinema these days are superhero movies; and since each stone
has its own colour, it gives you a colour scheme to work with for wedding
planning.
But we
are not just here for a wedding day, we are here to start a marriage. And for
Emily and Nikki, a marriage needs Jesus. Emily and Nikki are huge nerds, but
the thing most important to them is Jesus Christ. The thing most important to
their relationship is Jesus Christ. And so the thing most important to their marriage
is Jesus Christ. While their wedding might have a superhero theme, we don’t get
up and read from Marvel comics to help them in their marriage. We read from the
Bible, because they are getting married before God.
And it’s
a good thing too! Because not only is the story of the Infinity stones fiction;
it is actually pretty depressing too. It goes something like this: these six
stones are the only remains of some now-dead all-powerful being. These remains
are spread around the universe, and if someone can harness all six stones then
they will have control over all aspects of the universe – Mind, Power, Reality,
Soul, Space, and Time. This big purple guy called Thanos collects these stones
and wants to use their power to kill half of all intelligent life in the
universe. He's the big bad guy of the Marvel movies.
Now these
six aspects represented by the infinity stones - Mind, Power, Reality, Soul,
Space, and Time - are a pretty typical summary of all the things that people think of when
they think of God. And the Bible tells us from the beginning that God is both
the creator and sustainer of all things. The Bible tells us that God is
all-knowing, all-present, all-powerful, infinite and outside of time. God is an
all-powerful being, and so it might seem easy to compare God to the infinity
stones.
But there
is no infinity stone of Love. And love is the number one attribute of God that
makes him God. How do we know that? Because God as Jesus Christ left behind all
the powers of the infinity stones to come to this earth as a human being. Jesus
died, suffering the punishment for our rebellion against God, so that we could
have a perfect relationship with him. The power that God uses to bring people
close to himself, to make a relationship between them and himself, isn’t
contained in any of the infinity stones. It’s the power of love. The power of
love is a curious thing. It’s a love that sacrifices, a love that gives things
up, a love that costs. That love is central to who God is.
Emily and
Nikki want to bring that love to their marriage, the love of God. In the book
of Ephesians in the Bible we read this in chapter 5 verse 1: “Follow God’s
example, therefore, as dearly loved children (2) and walk in the way of love,
just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and
sacrifice to God.” Emily and Nikki want to follow God's example; in their
marriage, they want to walk in the way of love.
How does
that look when you live it out? The book of Ephesians gives some specific
examples of how we should live this out in different aspects of our lives: so
as children we should honour our parents, and as parents we should not
exasperate our children but train them in the ways of Jesus Christ. It says
that slaves should obey their masters as if they were obeying Christ; to
masters it says they should treat their slaves in the same way - by obeying
Christ! And it says that wives should submit to their husbands as the church
submits to Christ; and that husbands should love their wives as Christ loved
the church and gave himself up for her. These are all examples of what verse 21
of Ephesians 5 tells us that we should all do: “Submit to one another out of
reverence for Christ.”
So as
Christians, we are all called to love one another as Christ loved us and gave
himself up for us, and we are all called to submit to one another out of
reverence for Christ. Emily and Nikki: as Christians joining together in
marriage before God, both of you are called to put the other one first, to
ensure each other’s flourishing and wellbeing ahead of your own. Whether it’s a
little thing – like the rest of the Avengers watching their language because it
upsets Captain America – or a big thing – like learning to curb your Hulk-like
rage so you don’t bring down the helicarrier with everyone else onboard – both
of you need to put the other one’s best interests first.
And,
Emily and Nikki: you are both called to love one another as Christ loved you.
You need to take care of one another, and build each other up. Emily, be the
Tony Stark to Nikki’s Peter Parker, and give him what he needs to be his
absolute best – although I would recommend not installing an instant kill mode
in his spiderman suit. Nikki, be the Thor to Emily’s Bruce Banner, encouraging
her that she’s powerful and useful and smart, and that you don’t even like the
Hulk because he’s all like “rarrr, smash smash smash”.
Both of
you have been made in the image of God, and as such have been given the ability
to affect the universe for one another: you can change one another’s Minds by
what you say and do; you can harness Powers like heat, light, electricity and
even nuclear fission to make your lives better; you can move yourselves around
in Space, whether it be to the moon or just to New Zealand; you can look
backwards and forwards in Time by remembering your past and making plans for
your future; you can change the very Reality of one another’s lives, for good
or ill, by what you do; you can even have an impact on people's eternal Souls
by being a family that shares the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are made in the
image of God, and while compared to God you are weak and feeble, through him
you are capable of amazing and life-changing things.
Ephesians
5:31 tells us, "'For this
reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and
the two will become one flesh.' (32) This is a profound mystery—but I am
talking about Christ and the church." Your marriage is a picture of the
union of Christians together with Christ. So now that you two are married,
don't ever use your God-given powers to wipe out the other person and make the
marriage all about you - that would make you the bad guy! Don't be Thanos!
Don't click your fingers! There is no infinity stone of love, but always remember that like all the
strength and power and ability that you have been given, love comes from God.
Use the powers God has given you for loving one another, and for loving others
as a couple, out of reverence for Christ. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you
on your wedding day, and every day of your marriage.
