I recently read through my journal for 2009, and I love this excerpt from Friday, November 27 of that year: “I was at the YMCA on Wednesday, expecting Cindy to show up any minute. I was on a stationary bike and kept turning round as I was riding to look for Cindy’s appearance. At the same time I was listening to a message by Sinclair Ferguson on the Return of Jesus, and it struck me how this picture in the Y looked like that picture in the future. It reminded me of how we should live: distracted from the things of this world because of a longing for the arrival of the One we love. We want to be craning our necks, watching the door, not caring what we look like to others, some of whom may be annoyed by our constant turning and looking and longing. Paul said a crown of righteousness will belong to those who “love His appearing.”
That story also reminds me of February 22 and November 22 of 2025. I remember them like they were yesterday. In each of those days, I was privileged to stand next to a young man who was looking intently at a door that was closed, knowing that when it opened, he would see the young woman standing behind it as his fiance for the last time. Because in mere minutes, she would become his wife. They would leave their father and mother, hold fast to one another, and they would become one flesh. Their lives would be forever changed as a new family was formed, and that union would be a testimony to the world of the marriage between Christ and His church, His bride.
Cindy and I had the privilege of doing the pre-marital counseling for these two young couples this
year, and all of them members of Antioch. In fact, three of them grew up in the church and the fourth came to us already grown up beyond her years.
Let me tell you three things I saw in those two weddings and the work that led up to them. First, I saw four families who were committed to training up their sons and daughters to know the Lord and to follow Him. I saw four men who take seriously Paul’s admonition, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” I saw four women whose children rise up and call them blessed and whose husbands also praise them. Each of these moms “opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”
Second, I saw a church body come together for each wedding to do whatever needed to be done for
the sake of the bride and the groom and for the glory of God. It was a mountain of work and you did it without complaining because the love of Christ compelled. It really does take a village to pull off a wedding, and what a godly, giving, and loving village the church is. Gospel community is alive and flourishing at Antioch. Third, I saw two young couples that patiently waited to say yes on their wedding day. I saw the light shining in their eyes when they looked at one another and when they talked about one another.
I want to remind you who are married, whether it is for one month or more than 50 years, of this truth: marriage in Christ is meant for our joy and for God’s glory. Don’t give in to anything less for your marriage than that. Don’t accept for a moment the thought that suggests marriage is something to be endured, not enjoyed. No! That is certainly not how Jesus thinks of His bride! For the JOY that was set before Him, Jesus our bridegroom endured the cross. Because of what Jesus endured for us, we can and we must pursue joy in one another.
Celebrate the one whom God gave you, in good times and in hard times.
J. Mark Fox 