The Bride of Christ
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
The best moment in a wedding is arguably the moment the bride walks down the aisle to her groom-to-be.
Much of a to-do is made about the bride. Everyone is looking at the bride in her gown.
As a pastor, I get a unique perspective, because I am standing beside the groom.
As the bride walks down the aisle, people are enamored with her. But slowly, aisle by aisle, I begin to see people turn around. Without fail, they look at the groom.
There is something special about a groom seeing his bride.
You can often see the love in his eyes - whether he is crying, laughing in joy, or excited, his reaction shows his love for his bride.
He has chosen her, loves her, sacrificed for her, and is giving his life to her.
In the same way, the church is the bride of Christ. We are the bride of Christ. But we live in a day in which the church is viewed in such low esteem.
We won’t find it with our own eyes.
When I was a student, I remember going to church camp, and the speaker, without fail, would just rail on the local church. I remember getting frustrated with the little church I grew up attending.
We see the blemishes, the weak spots, and the broken pieces. At times, our critical hearts struggle to see God at work in the everyday of the local church.
We won’t find it with our cultures eyes.
As Christians, we live in a very unique age. As Western society continues to grow more secular and less Christian, the church has grown out of favor with the culture around us.
Some of these issues are our own doing. When you turn on the news any given day, you see all of the horrible situations that have taken place because of the church or in a local church. I won’t be skimming over that reality. We will address it, because it is important.
We will only find it with the eyes of Jesus.
Only Jesus fully sees the potential He has given to the church.
My prayer is that we would see the potential of the church and realize the role that God has for her.
Our God loves His bride. We ought to have a high view of Christ’s Bride, and speak in a redemptive way of His bride.
Read Revelation 19:6-9 “Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.””
Explanation
Explanation
We have to distinguish between the local church and the universal church. These are theological terms.
The local church is each local expression that believe the gospel of Jesus Christ and hold to true faith in Him. (Not every church that calls itself a church is a part of the true church)
The universal church is the whole church from Africa, Asian, North America, South America, Australia, and any worshippers on Antarctica that worship Jesus.
This universal church is the bride of Christ. We are a little bitty piece of it.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
From Paul’s admonishment for husbands, we see how we ought to love one another.
a. Christ died for His bride.
In this room today, we all have one thing in common - Christ has died for us.
This single fact unites us more than any other single reality of our existence.
b. Christ loves His bride.
Christ’s death on the cross is the greatest act of love that the world has ever seen. It was for you and me - His people.
However, Christ’s love wasn’t a single grand gesture, no matter how grand it was.
He continually makes us holy. His righteousness is ours.
He cleanses us by His word.
He is awaiting the moment that we might be presented before him in all splendor (remember Revelation 19).
c. Christ cares for His bride.
We will be without spot or wrinkle.
I had an older gentleman in his eighties at my previous church. He had horrible back problems and leg pain. He worked several difficult jobs his whole. His wife was spry and energetic. One day, we were talking in our fellowship hall, and he said, “Look at her. She is beautiful isn’t she. 80 something years old.” “I look the way I look so that she could look like that.”
What he was saying was, “I worked hard and stressed and took care of everything I could and broke my body so she could flourish.”
One day, we will stand before the Lord - with no wear and tear - from the heavy lifting. But one will stand beside the Father with nails in His hands.
3. The Church is God’s plan for the redemption of the world.
“For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.”
God doesn’t change his plan between now and the Marriage Supper.
God is planning to use us. We are not Plan B, and there is no Plan B. God, in His infinite wisdom, chose to use a rag tag group of people like you and me for His purposes.
In Revelation, God doesn’t look at the church and say, “You know… you had a good thing going until 2023. Then I had to bring in the reinforcements.”
More good has been done throughout Christian history through the Christian ethic of care for others than any other force in human history.
More hospitals have been built.
More orphanages have been founded.
Fascinating studies - Christianity literally changed the cultural ethos of the world in which we live - at multiple points.
The ultimate good is not hospitals, orphanages, or the homeless. The ultimate good is the proclamation of the message of the Cross.
More hospitals can bring more healing. More education can bring more good jobs and human flourishing. More orphanages can care for more people.
None of these things change the fundamental truth of the world. That man needs to be saved from his sins.
4. What do we do with evil that the church has done?
We could talk about abuse scandals or the Crusades. The church has done some horrible things throughout history. Some of you may have been hurt in your own local church.
We have to recognize it. We have to see it. Jesus did. If you notice, the Revelation letters of Jesus to the seven churches show the brutal honesty of the Jesus who rules and reigns over creation.
Revelation 2:2-4 ““ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”
To have a high view if the church does not mean that we ignore the flaws of the church. It does means that we do not abandon the church, because we know Christ has not abandoned the church. It means that we look truthfully and honestly at the church seeking purity and unity as we grow together.
I don’t have the perfect answer, but I will give you a few things to contemplate. We will talk more about this in the weeks to come too.
We remember that humanity has corrupted everything. Unfortunately, the church has not been excluded from that corruption. Even redeemed people live in the brokenness of sin. Even Jesus’ 12 disciples were not immune to those who wanted to use Jesus for their own means.
Christians are representatives of Jesus, but they are not Jesus. If we say, “I am not going to go to church, because hypocrites are there.” Well, you better not go to Kroger either.
Our status comes not in what we have done, but in who we have married. The final word of our deeds, broken as they may be, is the King of Kings.
All Churches that believe the true gospel and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior are united together.
The beauty of eternity is that we will worship God for an eternity, and some of those days, we will stand shoulder to shoulder with people who we have not one commonality except that we have been saved by the blood of the lamb.
Colossians 3:11 “Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
5. Revelation 7:9-10 reminds us of more than our diversity. The biggest, greatest, and loftiest goal of the church is the worship of Jesus, the King of Kings.
May we worship our great God.
As we worship here, so billions of people will do the same - in heaven and on earth. We have joined an eternal song.
Invitation
Invitation
We are offered an invitation to the radical love of Jesus.
I want to invite you to join in this faith family.
See yourself the way Jesus sees you. A part of his redeemed bride.